One Year, Many Troubles
by Fandom-Geek17
Summary: Same story as "One Year, A Lot Of Trouble". Arya just started college. She doesn't like Gendry, he seems like a stupid, grumpy bull, yet there is just something that pulls her towards him.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi everyone! So here is a new Gendrya fanfic that I feel more strongly for than the other. So keep in mind that things are a little stiff between our favorite darlings, but it will be better later on, trust me! Enjoy!**

College – Chapter 1

"So, here we are" the guide told her and Arya nodded. She looked up at what would now be her home for the next four years. The apartment building looked extravagant just like everything else here in King Landing, but Arya scolded herself for complaining. She had chosen to come here, she had chosen to attend King's Landing College despite her obvious distaste for the city.

"Great…" Arya responded and took a firmer hold on her suit case.

"You'll be sharing apartment 201 with two other students."

"Okay."

"It's on the third floor, do you want any help with the luggage?"

"No. I'm fine" She forced an uncomfortable smile.

"Alright. If you have any questions, you can call the student information or ask any staff directly. The number is on the information sheet."

"I know."

"Good. I'll leave you to it, then. Good luck." And with that, the guide walked away.

Arya exhaled loudly. She slung her back pack which had been lying carelessly beside her over her shoulder and dragged her suitcase behind her as she opened the door and walked in, but not without complications. The stupid suitcase refused to cross the threshold no matter how much she pulled, growled and cursed at it. And on top of that, the door wouldn't stay open, it continued to close when she desperately wanted it to stay open. A large number of curse words were uttered towards the door too.

"Do you need help?" someone asked. Arya looked up to see a blond girl around her age. She wanted to say that the girl was pretty, because she _was_. It was just the minor detail that she had a horrendous scar on covering one side of her face.

"No" Arya responded. But she did, she needed help, yet her pride wouldn't let her ask or accept it.

"Are you sure? You're all red."

"Pretty sure!"

The girl ignored Arya's answer, understanding the she really did need help. She held up the door for Arya so that she could use her whole strength to pull the stupid suit case of the threshold. But the girl didn't stop there. She continued to help Arya carry it up the stairs. Arya would never admit it out loud, but she was extremely grateful.

"I'm Shireen, by the way" The girl panted as they carried the suit case up the second stair. "I live in 198."

"Congratulations" was Arya's only gruff response. Shireen looked hurt, though she tried to hide it.

"Sorry… I know I'm acting like a Jack-ass, it's just… I don't know. It's been a long day."

"It's alright, no need to apologize."

"I'm gonna start over. Hi, Shireen it's nice to meet you. I'm Arya. What are you studying?" She mostly just added the last part to be polite.

"Literature, it's really amazing! And you?"

"Fencing scholarship."

"Cool!"

Arya continued to try and make polite small talk with Shireen. She seemed sweet, but a little too perky for Arya's taste. That would take some getting used to, but a sweet girl none the less.

Shireen bid goodbye when they reached apartment 201, she tippy toed her way down to the second floor and disappeared. Arya turned towards the door and considered knocking but then realized that she lived here now, this was her sort of dorm room. She didn't have to knock to enter her own home. So instead she opened the door and stepped through.

The smell of cooking engulfed her as she closed the door. It smelled divine. Whoever it was that lived here with her was one hell of a chef. After placing her bags inside the door she walked further in, following the scent. There in the kitchen stood a rather large boy with curly black hair. He stood there handling more things at the same time than Arya would ever be able to whilst whistling the theme song from some old kids show.

"Um… Hi?" Arya tried. The boy looked at her with confusion.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Arya, I live here now."

"Right, so you're the third roommate?" Arya nodded. "I'm Hot Pie." Arya couldn't stop the chuckling laugh from escaping her mouth. Hot Pie furrowed his brows at her. "What's so funny?"

"Just the irony." She gestured to where he was clearly making cherry pie.

"Oh yeah, I get that a lot."

"I'm not surprised." He smiled at her to show that he didn't take offence at her snide comments. "Where are the bedrooms? I'd like to drop of my bag and unpack, shit like that.

"Past the living room down the hall, you see them from here." He pointed.

Arya walked back to grab her bags and walked to the three doors that Hot Pie pointed to. One of them was open. Clothes were spread out on the bed and several chef uniforms were displayed. Arya guessed this was Hot Pie's room. She made a move to open the second one but was stopped.

"No! That's Gendry's room!" he called through the living room.

"Who's Gendry?"

"My friend, he's a student here too."

"So, where is he?"

"I don't know! He said something about there not being enough keys for the three of us and walked out. He'll probably be back later."

Arya shrugged and entered the third room. Besides the basic decorating, which consisted of a bed, a bedside table, a wardrobe and set of a desk and chair, it was empty. The walls were a shade of pale yellow and the bedspread was white.

"Nice" she muttered sarcastically. It really wasn't. It was boring. With all the extravagance outside you'd think they could afford to properly decorate a room, at least with better colors.

But either way she started to unpack her things. It was a slow torturing process to put all of her clothes inside the wardrobe. Her mother had made sure that she had enough clothes with her to last a lifetime here at campus, not that she would need much of the clothes packed. She wasn't like Sansa, she didn't need a whole suit case when spending the weekend at a friend's house.

When she packed up her toiletries something struck her. Arya panicked for a nanosecond. She had shared bathrooms with boys her whole life, she did have four brothers after all. But since she and Sansa hit puberty Catelyn had insisted they would have a bathroom of their own since they had very different needs than boys do. And Arya couldn't help but agree. Sharing a bathroom with two boys when the trash can would be filled with bloody tampons and pads on a monthly basis or always having to explain that it takes time to shave your legs wasn't something she looked forward to.

Therefore she immediately rushed out of her new bedroom and almost attacked Hot Pie when entering the kitchen.

"Hot Pie!"

"Seven hells, Arry! You scared me!" She completely ignored the notion of having scared him.

"How many bathrooms are there in this apartment?"

"Two, why?" She exhaled quickly, feeling much calmer.

"Good, dibs on one of them."

"There's one just inside the door in the hallway and one over there by the TV. I've already put my stuff in the one in the hallway so take the one by the living room."

She smiled at him, thankful. "Thanks. You're the best!"

"I know" he responded cheekily. "Hey, the pie is almost ready, wanna have a piece when it is?"

"Yeah, sure. I'm just gonna finish packing in the mean time." Hot Pie nodded at her and then continued to do the dishes.

Arya moved all of her toiletries from the bags to her bathroom. She was pleased to see that the bathroom was complete with towels and hand soap. Then she took out some photographs she had brought with her. There was one with her entire family gathered (except Jon), one with her, Bran and Rickon, one of her and Nymeria as a puppy, one of her parents at their wedding and finally her favorite: the one of her and Jon hugging. She placed that one on the bedside table. Arya missed him so much. Jon was working as a security guard at the wall which meant almost no spare time what so ever.

She walked into the living room and found Hot Pie sitting on the couch, slicing up the pie he baked earlier. Two plates were set out on the coffee table and the TV was playing at a low volume.

"Perfect timing" Hot Pie announced as she sat down beside him and leaned her back against the armrest. He put a slice of the pie on the plate and offered it to her. "Eat all you want. Choose to see this however you want, but my classes require me to practice a lot of cooking after class too so there will be a lot of food around the house."

"I love anyone who can bail me out of cooking!"

Hot Pie laughed. "I love you too!" Arya started to laugh too, and soon they were both just laughing without really knowing what they were laughing at anymore.

"So…" Arya said as she finally composed herself. "You're a cooking major?"

"Yep. Second year. And why are you here, freshman?"

She stuck her tongue out at him for calling her a 'freshman' before answering. "I got a fencing scholarship."

"Nice. Where're you from?"

"Winterfell."

"And you chose to come all the way to King's Landing?" He asked this very skeptically.

Arya shrugged. "Syrio Forel is teaching here, so who the hell am I to say no? He's like the _god_ of fencing, Hot Pie! How could anyone say no to an offer to train for him?"

"Never heard of him, so I wouldn't know…"

Arya's jaw dropped. "How can you _not_ have heard of him?! He's like a living legend!" And after that she was giving him a full on explanation about Syrio Forel and why he was the god of fencing. Hot Pie just shut up and ate his piece of the pie. Arya was sure he stopped listening after a while but she didn't care. Her whole family was sick and tired of her always talking about him, and now to have someone new to talk his ears off about her idol was like stepping into a warm shower after a cold day in Winterfell.

After a while the door opened and closed again. Arya sat with her back to it and was too lazy to turn around and look at who it was but she could hear the person taking off his or her jacket and putting it on the shelf. Whoever it was disappeared into the bathroom for a while and then return.

"Gendry come here, there's pie!" Hot Pie called.

"I think I've had enough of your pies for the week, but thanks." He spoke in a deep, low, husky voice. The sound of it sent a jolt of electricity down directly to her core. She always loved men with deep voices. It sounded so sexy. He walked past the couch, so far with his back towards Arya. He was so tall and with broad shoulders. His thick, black hair stood out in every angle possible. Then he turned around and faced them. She was struck by his eyes. An electrifying shade of blue looked at her with confusion. "Who the fuck are you?"

Because of his sultry voice, she let that one slide. "I'm your new amazing roommate Arya Stark." She couldn't help but think that he flinched a little bit at her words. Maybe she was just imagining things. Arya watched as he let his gaze size her up and down.

"Well, welcome then, Milady." And with those words and left them and walked inside his room, shutting the door behind her. Milady? _Milady?_ So far the only good thing about this guy was his looks. _I'm not a lady!_

"Does he always act like a bull?" Arya asked Hot Pie.

"Depends on how you look at it" Hot Pie answered. "If you're used to it, then no. But if you're not used to it, then yes."

Arya huffed. She didn't know Gendry, but so far he seemed like a stupid bull with a stick shoved up his ass.

 **So what did you think? Leave a review and let me know! See you soon in the next chapter!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi my lovleys! Originally I wasn't planning on posting this until like a week or so. But since it was already written and I'm impatient, why the heck not? So here it is! Hope you like it! Enjoy!**

Chapter 2

She awoke to the awful sound that was her phone's alarm clock. Arya groaned after she turned it off and realized that she now had to get out of bed. Though her contempt didn't last long. After a minute she remembered where she was, and why she was there.

Despite not wanting to leave the warmth of the blankets she was excited to begin her first day of college, mostly because she was here on a fencing scholarship! Syrio Forel, hello? The man was a god.

She put on a pair of jeans under the oversized t-shirt she had slept in. She could always change later. She had two hours before her first lesson started. Arya didn't even try to tame the crow's nest on her head, deciding that it would be time for that later too.

When walking into the small kitchen she was met with the sweet sound of the coffee maker. Gendry sat on a stool at the kitchen island, drinking a cup of coffee in silence. So far, Arya didn't like him. She had only spent three days in the same student flat as him, since the day she moved in. But he was rude, introverted and always looked like someone just had insulted his mother.

If Arya had to be fair, she was pretty much the same way, yet she tried to be nice to him. She liked Hot Pie well enough, he was funny and easy to get along with. And the only reason why she tried to be polite and nice to Gendry was because he was Hot Pie's friend and she respected that.

Arya gave him a small smile when she strolled by to get her own cup of coffee, a smile that he didn't return.

"Good morning to you too" Arya spat out.

"You didn't say anything" Gendry replied gruffly. Arya raised her eyebrows at him. That was the first time he had spoken to her since they met briefly three days ago.

"Where's Hot Pie?" Mostly she just asked to get away from him.

Gendry just shrugged in response, looking grimmer than before.

"Okay…" she said slowly as she turned around. "I'll just leave you to it." Again, he didn't answer.

Arya decided just to ignore the stupid bull and get herself ready. She placed the coffee on the bedside table and opened the closet to pick out her outfit for the day. Since she wasn't her sister, she didn't spend half an hour in front of the wardrobe picking out clothes, it didn't take long. A black button up shirt caught her attention and Arya pulled it off the hanger, put on a plain black bra and the shirt on top. There wasn't any reason as to why she couldn't keep the jeans she was already wearing.

She brushed her hair and put it in a pony tail. Wisps of hair fell out and framed her face. Makeup was just extravagant when it came to casual wear so she skipped that.

She finished her coffee whilst checking _Instagram,_ noticing that her sister and Margaery Tyrell were going to celebrate their first day of senior year in college by eating breakfast at some fancy place. Arya rolled her eyes at the silly picture of Sansa and her best friend with photogenic smiles and forks loaded with food in their hands.

Her phone beeped, reminding her that she had twenty minutes until her first lesson started. After checking her schedule and packing the right books, Arya grabbed the map and started to make her way towards the exit door.

Gendry –the stupid bull- was still there about to put his jacket on. When he saw Arya standing there he didn't make any effort to speak to her, though he did shove something in her hand before exiting the apartment with quick steps.

Her eyes traveled down to her hands where she didn't only hold her map now, but a key and a note as well.

 _Your key._

Nothing more. But at least it was something.

Hot Pie had already left so she locked the door behind her.

It took ten minutes to walk from the apartment building. It took five minutes to find her way through the halls and corridors of King's Landing College. She thanked the gods she had a couple of minutes to spare when she found the right classroom. There already were a quite large amount of students waiting out front. Shireen was one of them and she smiled brightly when she saw Arya approaching.

Shireen and another girl she stood with waved her at her. The other girl also had blond hair, wavy curls that flowed down her back, and her eyes were green as the grass on a summer day.

"Hi, Arya!" Shireen greeted. "How are you?"

"Fine" Arya answered.

"This is Myrcella." Shireen gestured towards the other girl who smiled as well and held out her hand for Arya to shake.

"Hi" Myrcella said. "Nice to meet you."

"You too" Arya replied. Though it wasn't. She recognized this girl. Her blond hair and green eyes, Myrcella was a Lannister. Okay, technically her name was Baratheon, her father was her dad's best friend; Robert Baratheon. Her mother on the other hand, was the little snake Cersei Lannister. All the Lannisters were false little bastards.

Arya's prejudices made her step backwards a step, she just hoped it was done discreetly so that no one would notice. She didn't hold anything against Shireen, but Myrcella was still a Lannister and Arya was a prejudicing little shit.

The doors to the classroom opened and people started pouring in. Everyone took their place. Arya tried to sit a couple of benches away from Shireen and Myrcella but they made it hard for her since it almost looked like they were following her and trying to sit as close to her as possible.

"Good morning everyone" a voice echoed inside the hall. Arya looked around and saw a small man sitting behind the teacher's desk. "Welcome to psychology studies. I hope you are all feeling well."

"Imp" someone said, concealed under a false cough.

"Imp?" Tyrion Lannister questioned. "Why yes, that is was most people call me. Tell me, what is _your_ name?"

"Aaron Stone."

"Then, Aaron Stone, I see that you have silently been eye fucking the poor girl in front of you since you stepped into the room, and probably before you got in here. Since you sat down you have been not so discreetly crossing your legs under the table, both you and I know you are trying to hide. But right now, might I suggest you target your sexual frustration in some other direction, like your bedroom on a Friday night and leave this young girl alone? Now, can we begin the lesson?"

"Yes."

"Yes what?"

"Yes, _sir_."

Arya couldn't help but laugh with the rest of the classroom. Despite her earlier mental scolding at Myrcella for being a Lannister, Tyrion was hilarious. Maybe some Lannisters were okay after all.

XXX

The day went on and she wasn't disappointed. College was almost everything she expected it to be. The lessons so far were interesting, but she still looked forward to tomorrow more than anything this school had to offer.

At lunch she sat alone at first. She sat alone when she chose her table, eating whilst scrolling through social media. That was until someone tapped her on the shoulder, and she was relieved to see Hot Pie smiling down at her with a food tray in his hands.

"Hey, Arry" he said. "Do you mind?" Arya shook her head, smiling back. "I thought you might want some company."

"Thanks."

"So, how's your first day?" But before Arya got a chance to answer, Hot Pie was shouting across the canteen. "Gen! Hey! Gen!"

And to Arya's great disappointment, Gendry put his tray down beside Hot Pie. Once again his face was sour and it rubbed off, though Arya tried not to show how annoyed she became as soon as the black haired boy entered the same room as her. Sure he was hot, no one could deny that his eyes and muscles could make any ovaries swoon, but he was a stupid, rude bull.

"Hi, Hot Pie" Gendry said as he sat down.

Arya eyed him, trying to make eye contact. Maybe he had some curtsies. But oh, how he didn't. " _Hi_ " Arya tried. Gendry raised his head from his plate and nodded shortly at her. She rolled her eyes at him. Hot Pie looked between the two of them before trying and failing to hide his exhale.

"I was just asking Arya about her first day" Hot Pie said, hoping to start a conversation.

"Sounds interesting, but unfortunately, I have to go" Gendry responded. He took his barely touched food tray and walked away.

Arya slumped back in her chair, watching him walk away with quick steps. "He hates me" she stated with a shrug.

"No he doesn't."

"Liar! You're not blind and you're not as stupid as you look –no offense. You don't need an IQ of 200 so see his distain towards me!"

"Look, Arya… He doesn't hate you, trust me on that one."

"Yeah? And you do you know that, hmm?"

"I just do."

"Not good enough!"

He's just…bullheaded…"

Arya scoffed. Bullheaded? Sure, he was a bull, but acting like this towards her for no apparent reason was just mean. She clenched her jaw and looked down at her plate, suddenly feeling less hungry.

"I think I'm just gonna go and see if I can locate the library for future studying or something" she said, getting up.

"Oh." Hot Pie scrambled around to gather his belongings. "Do you want me to show you?"

"No." He looked a bit disappointed but she didn't care. She just needed to be alone. "I can manage."

She stormed out of the canteen. The truth was she wasn't at all planning on locating the library. She just really needed to be alone and get away from everyone. Arya knew she shouldn't let one guy screw up her day which had been awesome so far. But it was hard to stop thinking about him.

Arya reached the back exit doors and stepped outside into the sunshine. It blinded her momentarily but soon her eyes got used to the light and she could see again.

Leaning against the brick wall she fished a package of cigarettes and took one out. Next she found the lighter and clicked it a few times but nothing happened. _Stupid…_ She tried again. Nothing. Again, nothing.

"Fucks sake" she spat out.

"It's illegal to smoke on the premises, you know" a voice said. Even though she had only heard it a few times she knew who that deep, sexy voice belonged to. She turned her head to see Gendry standing a couple of feet away from her, smoking himself. _Hypocrite!_

"So why are you doing it, then?" she retorted and removed the cigarette from her lips and folded her arms over her chest.

Gendry shrugged. He took a few steps with his long legs until he was standing close to her, he handed her something. It was a lighter.

"Thanks…" It was almost phrased as a question. She lit up her cigarette and handed it back. "Do you smoke often?"

Gendry eyed her with a hard gaze before answering shortly. "No." He was quiet for a few seconds before he said anything else. "How about you?"

"Sometimes…"

"Like right now?"

"Obviously."

And for the first time she though she saw a smile flash over Gendry's face. Just for a moment, his eyes lit up. The revelation that he actually _could_ smile made her soften just slightly towards him.

But of course he had to go and ruin it by remembering that he was always a grumpy asshole and walked off without another word.

"Idiot!" she hissed. Stupid, stupid idiot!

 _Syrio Forel, Syrio Forel, Syrio Forel_ , she chanted over and over again to remind herself what she had to look forward to.

 _Syrio Forel._

 **Okay so, still a little stiff… I hope you can bear with me (right spelling? I'm not English so I'm not sure, but I think so). In my opinion, I love fics where the OTP don't really like each other in the beginning, but then warm up to each other over time. Like Nathan and Daley in Flight 29 Down if anyone has seen that show. Do that if you haven't!**

 **Leave a review and let me know your feelings and thoughts! See you!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey, my lovelies! I'm feeling like Gendrya trash today so let's share the latest chapter! Enjoy!**

Chapter 3

Arya tapped her foot nervously on the floor. She was the only one there. The fencing lesson wasn't about to start until half an hour, so of course she was the first one there. Taking a deep breath, she clutched her trustworthy sword Needle more closely to her side. It was almost as if she was afraid someone would yank it out of her hand and tell her she had nothing to do with Syrio or his lessons.

But she kept telling herself that she was Arya Stark of Winterfell and no matter what they said, she was above their possible discriminations. Nobody could hurt her when she didn't want to be hurt.

Time ticked slowly by and soon other students began to drop in one by one. So far there were no other girls. Not that she minded, she hadn't expected it to be any more girls than her. In her nineteen year old life, she had never met anyone else of the female gender to be into fencing.

A guy with fiery red hair sat down opposite her. He was tall and slightly plump.

"Hi" he said shyly.

"Hey" Arya replied with a quick smile before going back to her foot tapping.

"I'm Mycah." Mycah looked as if he desperately tried to start a conversation.

"Hi, Mycah. My name is Arya."

Mycah didn't say much after that. He seemed shy, and Arya was too nervous to try and start a conversation herself.

Another boy entered. He had very pale blond hair and his eyes looked deep blue to the point of purple. Arya could immediately tell he had been fencing for years. He had the body for it. The kind of body she saw when she stalked hot male fencers online. The boy walked with confidence and sat down next to her – a little too close for Arya's taste – and held out his hand for her.

"Edric Dayne" he said.

Arya took his hand and shook it quickly. "Arya." She tried to retract her hand but Edric tightened his grip and brought it to his lips to give it a chaste kiss. As soon as his lips left the backside of her hand she yanked back She knew that she should have been flattered by what he did, the gods know every other girl would swoon, but not her.

Edric didn't let the gesture push him down. "You're very beautiful, Arya."

"And you're invading my private space." She stood up and stalked off to the nearest bathroom.

For a moment, she felt a little guilty for leaving Mycah alone with that sleazy prick, but then realized that she didn't really care. Mycah was a man, for fuck's sake! Perfectly capable of taking care of himself. Probably.

There were still a few minutes left so she could hide in here until she had to walk back out and face him. She wasn't afraid, not at all. Arya just couldn't handle his type for more than thirty seconds. The confident douche that was perfectly aware of what a dick he was but didn't care who he hurt.

Time struck 16:00 and she knew that she had to go outside. Everyone else who was taking the class had gathered and was on their way inside. There weren't really many of them, about ten including Arya. She wondered how many of them were here on a fencing scholarship just like her.

When she got inside and saw him she was completely star struck. For weeks Arya had told herself to be cool when first seeing and meeting Syrio Forel. _Calm and collected_ she chanted to herself but her body didn't agree. Her feet were planted to the ground at the sight of her god and her mouth was gaping slightly.

"You could just go and introduce yourself" Edric Dayne's voice whispered in her ear, his voice sultry. She snapped out of it and turned her head towards him with a glare.

"Piss off."

But he just smiled at her, a cocky smile. "I like a challenge." Then he stalked off to join a friend.

Arya clenched her jaw. Stupid, fucking prick!

"Okay, fighters" Syrio's foreign accent boomed in the hall. "Welcome to fencing. I am Syrio Forel. Former fencing master in Braavos for the last eight years. Now, you all pair up in twos and show me what you know."

She could see Edric eyeing her with a sly smile whilst clearly kissing Syrio's ass. Arya felt the rage start to boil within her.

"Will you pair up with me?" Arya asked Mycah who had silently placed himself beside her.

"What? Okay… Sure. But why?"

"Because that ass kissing little prick had been eyeing me and I don't like it."

Mycah simply nodded and swallowed.

They began to spar against each other. Mycah was pretty good. His grip was a bit off but otherwise he did quite well. She tried to help him and give him some tips when needed. Eventually he actually got the courage to ask some questions himself.

She was also pleased to see that Syrio scolded Edric as she showed off his skills with his friend.

"No, no, no! You charge like an angry bull. Be more loose. _Swift as a deer, quiet as a shadow._ Now boy, keep practicing."

Arya couldn't help but to think about Gendry when he said _'you charge like an angry bull'_. But no! Snap out of it! She was not going to let him spoil this. She was having so much fun.

Syrio came strolling towards her, though she didn't notice him until she felt his presence. He really took that whole _quiet as a shadow_ stuff seriously. Arya tried to remain calm and spar against Mycah just as calmly like before. But it was hard.

"Stand sideface, girl. Skinny body is less of a target, use it" he told her in his thick accent.

"Yes, sir" she responded breathlessly and changed her position. Syrio smiled at her and continued onto another pair.

Everyone continued to spar with Syrio making small adjustments here and there. Much too soon for Arya's liking Syrio told everyone to stop and pay attention.

"Next time we will practice technique so there will be little sparring. But please practice until then. This room is always open between lessons."

Everyone packed up their stuff and left.

XXX

He was watching TV when he heard the lock of the door turning and someone stepped in. His heart sank when he realized the steps were a lot quieter than Hot Pie's. It was _her_.

Fucking hell. Gendry felt guilty about thinking about her. He shouldn't. He really shouldn't. It wasn't right. Yet every time he saw her or Hot Pie mentioned her he caught himself with forgetting everything else. Acting like an asshole around her was his way of keeping his distance because he needed it.

He was intrigued by her, and he knew he should be. Sure, they could always be friends, they _should_ be friends, they did live in the same dorm after all, but he wasn't in the mood to ever ride that rollercoaster.

"Where's Hot Pie?"

Gendry couldn't be angry with her for being rude. He was rude to her all the time. And as far she was concerned, for no reason. So he couldn't exactly blame her. He gave her a shrug in response. "Don't know, with some friends."

She was sweaty and her cheeks were already flushed from the warmth, but he could swear he saw them turn redder out of the corner of his eye. "Okay…" she said. "So if he doesn't come back in time, which one of us is going to make dinner?" Again, another shrug. "Fine."

She stormed into her room for a moment before returning with a toilet bag and a stack of clothes.

"I'll make dinner." She muttered something else before closing the door to her bathroom behind her, but Gendry didn't hear what.

Arya took a deep breath and clenched her fists after locking the door. The guy annoyed her to death, yet he was on her mind all the time. What was that about? She didn't even like him.

She shook her head and shrugged out of her fencing suit and letting her hair down. Taking a look in the mirror, she shook her head again. She wasn't exactly striking. She had short, boring brown hair that never stayed in place no matter what she did with it. Her eyes were stormy and grey. Not like her mother's or Sansa's who had beautiful Tully blue eyes that always sparkled. She was short and barley had any boobs.

After sighing loudly she stepped into the shower and let the water wash away the sweat from her body. She liked showering. It was like washing away any problem even if it only lasted a couple of minutes. The water traveled from her hair, to dripping down on her shoulders, down her back and torso and along her legs.

She washed her hair and body and then just stood there for a while, not doing anything. Since she didn't want to risk Gendry seeing her in nothing but a towel she got dressed before exiting the room.

To her relief, Hot Pie had entered during her shower and was now in the kitchen as usual, chopping onions.

"Oh thank God!" she sighed.

"What?" he asked.

"No I won't have to put you through the effort of eating my cooking."

Hot Pie laughed. "Thank the gods!" He winked at her before she left to put her toilet bag back in her room. Hopefully now that Hot Pie was here she wouldn't have to spend dinner alone with Gendry…

 **I don't really have much to say! Leave a review and let me know your thoughts! Take care!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi lovelies! I don't have much to say except that I'm desperate for Joe Dempsie cuddles! ;) Enjoy the chapter!**

Chapter 4

Arya crept out of the apartment, a lot quieter than she usually did. It was Friday morning and her lessons didn't start until after lunch so every sane person would have slept in. But Arya woke up early couldn't go back to sleep. So she might as well do something productive.

"Hi, Arya!" a voice said as she walked down the stairs.

"Oh, hey Shireen" Arya smiled.

"Are you going to the gym?" Shireen eyed her fencing bag.

Arya shook her head. "Uh no, I thought I should practice some fencing before training today."

"Oh, okay, cool. I'm heading to class. Want some company?"

Arya nodded her agreement and they set out to walk from the apartment building to the actual school. "I know it's only been like a week and a half or so, but how's literature going?" Arya asked.

Shireen lit up at Arya's question and immediately pulled out a book and showed her. "It's going great! I just started a project on _Nathaniel Hawthorne_." Arya saw the man's name of the book.

"That's his work?"

Her blond haired neighbor nodded enthusiastically. She continued to fill Arya in on her literature studies and Arya in turn shared some stories from her fencing. Arya gushed a little more over Syrio Forel whilst Shireen patiently listened.

They parted ways when they reached the main entrance, Shireen went inside and Arya continued on to the next building.

Someone was already inside, which Arya thought was a little weird since it was like 6 am. The person's back was to her so she couldn't see but he was tall and blond. Her first thought was that it was Edric and Arya said a silent prayer, begging the gods to not let her train with him.

Her prayers must have been answered because it wasn't Edric. The person turned around and Arya's jaw dropped when she realized it was a woman. It was the largest woman she'd ever seen in her life. The woman had the height and almost the build of a man. Her blond hair was cropped short in a pixie cut.

The woman sparred fiercely against thin air until she noticed Arya standing there in her fencing suit and a shocked expression on her face. She lowered her sword.

"Hello" she said.

Arya shook her head slightly to escape her slight trance. "Hi" she replied.

"Are you going to practice?"

"Uh, yeah." Arya dropped her bag on the floor when walking inside. "Want to practice together?" The woman looked like she was good and it was always easier to spar when you had someone to spar against.

"I don't want to hurt you." It sounded both sincere and like a joke.

Arya shrugged. "I'll take my chances. You look like you know your shit."

The woman shrugged back and then they began. After getting into position Arya charged and the woman blocked. It must have been a strange sight. The tall and the short fighting against each other in an abandoned fencing hall. But Arya loved sparring against her, she was incredibly talented and smart.

Their swords met with a clash. "I'm Arya by the way" Arya panted.

"Brienne" the woman answered and blocked Arya's next attack.

Brienne and Arya continued to practice for an hour before deciding that was enough for today. They agreed to go to their separate dorms, have a shower and then meet up again to eat breakfast.

As it turned out, Brienne was also taking Syrio's class, only she was a year above. She was a little reluctant to give Arya every sore and score of this school since she got here when Arya asked for it, but Arya wanted the dirt and made it pretty clear.

They talked about their homes. Brienne told her stories of her home island Tarth, and how she always fought with boys when she was young. It reminded Arya of her at a young age and soon she was smiling big.

Soon though, the subject changed back to fencing.

"They say every good sword has a name, you know" Arya said and took a bite of her French toast. "What's yours?"

"Oathkeeper" Brienne answered and smiled a little dreamy. "And yours?"

"Needle."

Brienne chuckled. "Good name."

XXX

Arya waited impatiently for the clock to strike six pm. Her father had promised her that he would Skype her at that time despite his busy schedule. She had barely spoken to anyone in her family since she left, a couple of quick messages to Jon here and there and to her mother, reassuring her that she didn't lie dead in a ditch.

She had logged in fifteen minutes ago, just to be sure that she was online when her father contacted her.

Suddenly she heard the characteristic sound of someone calling her on _Skype_ and she didn't waste a second before answering. To her surprise it wasn't only her father on the other end, it was her mother, Bran and Rickon as well and they all waved and greeted her. She happily waved back.

" _Hi, sweet girl!"_ Ned called, a smile on his otherwise tired looking face.

But before neither she nor anyone could say anything else, Bran and Rickon bombarded her random questions. _"Is it always warm there?" "Are you smarter than Bran now?" "Are you fencing?" "Is Forel as cool as you always say he is?"_

"Okay, okay" Arya laughed. "Slow down!" She tried to answer every one of her brother's questions before her mother placed herself closer to the screen to claim attention.

Arya had a feeling the 'important' questions were on their way, and she wasn't wrong.

" _Arya, I have a couple of questions as well"_ Catelyn started. Arya sighed loudly, this was not something she looked forward to. Catelyn shot her a glare. _"Now I want to know, do you like it there? Do you have friends? Are people treating you well? How is school? Are the teachers good at their job?"_

"Yes mom, I like it here, I have friends, sure people are treating me well-" A small part of her wanted to start a rant about Gendry, but she didn't want to worry her parents. "-school is fine, so far the teachers are good. Mr Lannister is hilarious."

" _Lannister?"_ Catelyn questioned.

" _Catelyn"_ Ned said, putting a hand on his wife's shoulder.

"Yes, _Lannister_ , mom. Tyrion Lannister. He teaches psychology, and he's great. He did this epic put down on a guy who had been eye fucking a girl since he saw her."

" _Arya!"_ Catelyn shrieked as Bran and Rickon choked on their laughs. Even Ned had to hold back a smirk. _"Don't use the f-word! Have I not taught you nothing?"_

"At least you tried" Arya shrugged in response. Catelyn huffed. Again, Ned had to bite back a smirk but he cleared his throat and spoke up.

" _Alright, change of subjects. Arya, why don't you tell us a bit more about the dorms? Who are your roommates?"_

"Okay" she started. _Here we go._ "Well… I live with two guys. One's Hot Pie. He's great, and a cooking major in second year. The other one is Gendry…and I honestly don't know what it is he's studying."

" _You don't get along?"_ Ned asked, immediately concerned.

"No, we get along alright" Arya lied instantly. "He's just… Not that talkative."

" _Is he shy?"_ Ned asked.

"I don't know… I suppose."

There was a knock on her door. Knowing that it definitely wasn't Gendry, she told Hot Pie to come in. "Hey" he said, peeking through the door. "Got any dinner plans?"

"Uh, no. Why?"

"Well I got this new recipe from my teacher today and I want someone who isn't bias and surrounded by food all day to try it."

"Yeah, okay. Sound's great." Hot Pie smiled and was about to close the door again when she called out for him. "Hot Pie?"

"Yeah?"

"Want to meet my family?"

Hot Pie looked puzzled for a moment before he realized that she was referring to her computer. He brushed some flour from his t-shirt before sitting down next to her, smiling nervously at four of seven Starks.

"Speak of the devil. Mom, dad and annoying but beloved brothers, this is Hot Pie."

" _Hello, Hot Pie"_ Catelyn greeted. Hot Pie replied with an awkward 'hello'.

"Okay, so this is my mom Catelyn -obviously- and this is my dad Ned. And these two squirts are my baby brothers Bran and Rickon." She pointed them out.

" _So, Arya tells us you're a cooking major"_ Ned smiled.

"Yeah…" Hot Pie replied, still a little nervous.

" _That's interesting"_ Catelyn added. _"Do you enjoy it?"_

Now food was something Hot Pie could talk about. "Yeah! It's great! I've been cooking my whole life, helping out at my sister's bakery, stuff like that." He kept on rambling a little before realizing that he should have stopped after 'stuff like that'.

But Ned and Catelyn only smiled. _"Well it's good that you're following you're dreams"_ Catelyn praised. Hot Pie blushed.

He excused himself from the party and walked out.

Arya told them some other stories of her short time in college. She told them about her first lesson with Syrio (except for the part with Edric Dayne), about Brienne and Shireen and about the college in general.

A while later they said goodbye and Arya entertained herself with social media. Sansa had posted a picture on _Instagram_ complaining about all the homework she was already juggling with. Arya liked the picture and continued scrolling.

Her browsing was interrupted when the phone started ringing and her heart swelled as the name and picture popped up on the screen. It was the same one she kept on her nightstand.

"Hi, Jon!"

 **Liked? Disliked? Let me know! See ya soon!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi lovelies! Here's chapter five for you all. Just to make clear, there is a time jump in this chapter. A couple of weeks, about a month long. And also to those of you who are wondering why I'm making two versions of this story; some people come to this site looking for** _ **Game of Thrones**_ **fics. I was that person until not long ago, when I discovered that there was specific fics for the books as well. The universe of these characters extends beyond just the books or just the TV show. I want everyone to be able to read it, no matter if they come for stories based on the books or show.**

 **Now though, enjoy the chapter!**

Chapter 5

Arya sat in her PJ's on the living room couch. She clutched a cup of coffee between her hands. Her jaw was clenched. Now, anyone who new Arya wasn't new to her grumpy morning attitude. Hot Pie had adjusted quickly, learning to just offer her coffee and then stay out of her way and Gendry always ignored her so…

Though her usual morning mood wasn't the reason she was fuming this Saturday morning, Gendry was. Since school started in September to this day in the middle of rainy October she had endured his behavior, but now she was at her limit.

From where she sat she had a perfect view of the locked bathroom door, and she had been sitting there watching it for the last thirty minutes. She knew it wasn't Hot Pie in there, he was still asleep so that only left one person. Arya was determent to sit there until he unlocked the door and walked out, then she was going to give him a piece of her mind.

The door unlocked and the door opened, she saw his shadow move inside the room.

"You!" she spat and got to her feet, putting the cup aside.

 _Fuck!_ he thought. When he locked the door behind him she was asleep and now she stood blocking his way, eyeing him with a hard look. Gendry was painfully aware of the of the fact that he wasn't wearing a shirt and the way she was not so subtly ogling him, momentarily distracted from what she was going to do. He was embarrassed, but at the same time he wasn't. Does that make sense? Despite that he couldn't stop the small blush from creeping up his neck.

Gendry tried to dodge her and make a way to his room she stopped him.

"Uh uh!" She stepped in his way again. "You and me?" She pointed between them. "Are going to have a little chat _right now!_ " Dammit! He knew this day would eventually come. The day when she demanded him holding himself responsible for his actions, and this was it. Again he couldn't blame her for _her_ actions, he'd want the same thing. But this was just uncomfortable.

"Arya if I could just-" He was gesturing to his bare chest when she interrupted him once more.

"Oh no, mister! You are not escaping that easily!" He folded his arms over his chest and waited for her to continue. Their eyes met for a moment and he saw her steely eyes narrowing. "What is your fucking problem, Gendry? Huh? Because frankly, you have been nothing but rude and plain mean to me ever since we met. Have I done something to offend you? You know the thing I said about _'being your amazing new roommate'_ was a _joke!_ I wasn't trying to be rude or anything! It was a bad joke!"

Gendry sighed exasperated. "Look, I know I've been rude to you and it's been unfair."

"Is that all you have to say?!"

He sighed again, wanting nothing more than to escape into his room and lock the door behind him. "No. I'm sorry for the way I've treated you."

It was her turn to sigh. He watched her close her eyes for a moment and then look up at him again. He didn't fail to notice that her gray eyes had softened. "We can't continue this, Gendry. We're going to live together for _years_. I don't want to spend those years ignoring each other, do you?"

"No" he admitted. The truth was he really did want to be friends with her. He'd been eyeing her for the last month, and that was exactly why he _couldn't_ be friends with her. As stupid as his arguments were, he was trying to do the _noble_ thing.

"Can't we start over? Want to have breakfast and talk like boring normal people?"

"Sure." What else was he supposed to say? Had he said anything else he would have ruined everything. The part of him that wanted to get to know her won over the part that didn't want it. At least for now. "Can I go and put on a shirt now?"

Arya couldn't help but sneaking a glance at all his shirtless glory again. The man worked out, that was for sure. His pecks and abs were well defined, like _well_ defined. His waist narrowed down to his hips that had that v-shape she swore could get her wet no matter who they belonged to. She blushed at her own thoughts and nodded at his request. "Yeah, do that."

XXX

"So if you fence, and you're here on a fencing scholarship, then why do you _smoke?"_ Gendry asked after Arya had spent a couple of minutes talking about where she came from and how she got here, whilst they both delved in Hot Pie's leftovers from last night's cooking homework. "Isn't that kinda stupid?"

Arya shrugged. "I guess…"

"So why do you do it?"

She squirmed a little in the couch, not wanting to delve into those memories. "I don't know… I was going through a rough patch, and I guess I just tried to cope." She turned her head towards him. "But why do _you_ smoke?"

Gendry chuckled. "Group pressure, curiosity, stupidity, seemed cool. Take your pick." Arya raised her eyebrows but then went back to munching on some garlic chicken. "You should quit."

"I should" Arya agreed. She cocked her eyebrow and put her chicken aside. She stared until Gendry was forced to look back at her. "But only if you quit too."

Gendry laughed. He threw his head back and laughed. Arya had never heard it before, but now that she had she never wanted to stop hearing it. Seeing him smile and laugh for real was like seeing a whole new Gendry. And she liked it. A lot. His laughed filled the air with ease. For the first time he looked relaxed with her around.

"How come I knew you were going to say that?" Arya shrugged. "But we have a deal."

Arya's head snapped towards his from where she was pouring a drink. "Really?"

"Yeah." He held out his hand for her to shake.

Arya reached out to take it. His hand was rough and calloused, but at the same time warm and inviting. It was a clash of her soft skin against his rough. Arya found that she didn't want to let go, embarrassingly enough. "Deal" she said, slightly croaked.

"Deal" he smiled.

XXX

Things gradually got better between them. One day he actually sat down at her table at lunch, without Hot Pie insisting on it. In fact, Hot Pie hadn't even arrived in the canteen yet. They chatted about Gendry's studies. It turned out he was he was studying engineering. Arya hadn't suspected that from him, but come to think of it, it made sense. It seemed to suit him.

They heard a large clatter and turned their heads. Hot Pie who had entered without their knowledge had dropped his tray and was now drastically gathering its contents.

"Nice move, Porkins" a boy who looked like he was Gendry's age said.

Gendry immediately rose to his feet. She had seen him angry before, but this was something different entirely. "Hey!" The boy who had offended Hot Pie turned around. "Fuck off, Bolton! Leave him alone!"

He rushed over to where Hot Pie was still drying up the food from the floor. Arya followed soon after him and also helped. Hot Pie was red as a beet.

"Thanks, Gen" he whispered. "And you too, Arya."

"You shouldn't let them treat you like that" Arya hissed as she grabbed one of Gendry's paper towels to dry up some of his spilled drink. Hot Pie shrugged.

"No, she's right, Hot Pie!" Gendry agreed. "Why don't you ever stand up to him?"

"Because he's a wanker and I don't feel like caring" Hot Pie stated simply and stood up with his tray now filled with soggy paper towels and an empty plate. "I'm not that hungry anymore…"

"Oh no, don't do that" Gendry pleaded. "Come and sit down with us."

"I'm pretty sure everyone saw what happened."

"So?" Arya countered.

"My next class isn't until two. I'm gonna go to the dorm." He turned and walked off.

"Hot Pie…" Gendry tried again, but Hot Pie was already gone.

Arya and Gendry sat down again. She felt sad for what had happened with her friend, but she couldn't help but to eye Gendry (who was still fuming) with a feeling of awe. It hadn't taken more than a second for him to react when his friend was being bullied. It was like seeing him in a new light, a light that meant one more thing she suddenly liked about him. He stood up for his friends.

It was scary that she now almost only saw parts about him that she liked, not to mention his fantastic build. He was still grumpy at times – though so was she. But she liked it; she liked seeing him as someone she could actually _like_.

"Bolton is such a fucking idiot" Gendry mumbled. He hadn't touched his food since they sat down, he just sat on the chair with his arms folded over his chest.

"Yeah, he is" Arya agreed. "But you heard Hot Pie, he doesn't care."

"But he _does_ , Arya! If he hadn't he wouldn't have stormed off. This happens more often than you'd think." It was quiet between them for a moment. "I'm going to kill him."

"No you're not!" Arya said with sudden harshness. Gendry's eyes narrowed her. "I'm just saying that it's not worth getting suspended for beating him up, even if he is a total asshole. Talk to Hot Pie instead, see if he's okay."

Gendry sighed but nodded his agreement. He got up again. "Are you coming?"

Arya shook her head. "Would that I could but I've got math class in ten minutes."

"Okay. See you later then."

"Yeah see you." She gave him a comforting smile, which he tried to return but failed, the anger still seeping through him.

XXX

Gendry cooked that night. Hot Pie was too busy moping in front of the TV, _The Bachelorette_ playing and a _Ben and Jerry's chocolate fudge brownie_ in his hands. He wasn't broken by the comment he received at lunch, but anyone could tell it got to him. Arya tried to comfort him, but when there wasn't much she could do so she settled with just helping him eat his ice cream.

"I don't really have a problem with my size" Hot Pie said in a low voice suddenly. "But when other people point it out it's just…" He didn't finish his sentence.

"No, I get it" Arya reassured him. "When I was younger I had like really big teeth. I personally didn't really care, yet I always lashed out when people called me 'horseface'."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

He eyed her mouth for a moment. "You can't tell anymore."

Arya chuckled. "I suppose that's a compliment. So thanks."

"It was..."

She smiled and nudged his shoulder playfully, he actually smiled back and nudged hers. They both chuckled and then went back to eating too much ice cream before dinner and watching the stupid reality show.

XXX

Gendry pulled Arya aside after Hot Pie had gone to bed. "Listen" he started. "I don't know what you said to him before, but it helped. Thank you."

"It's alright" Arya answered. "I'm happy to help. I care about him too, you know."

Gendry touched her shoulder momentarily and she suddenly felt all warm inside. "I know" he whispered. Then he cleared his throat and stepped back awkwardly. "Well, goodnight."

"Goodnight." She turned around to enter her room.

"Oh and Arya?"

She turned back to him. "Yeah?"

"Don't forget our deal."

"Don't worry, I won't."

Arya closed the door to her room behind her and sat down on her bed. She fingered the place where she was touched and smiled.

What was happening to her?

 **Well there you have it! Give me a review and I'll see you all SOON! XX**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi lovelies! Sorry that this chapter came out a little later than I hoped. Life have been hectic like crazy! But here it is! Fair warning, I'm really tired so there might be some mistakes.**

Chapter 6

Arya was ready to throw the book across the classroom. The frustration radiated through her like wildfire, and had been since the minute she started this lesson. Math wasn't her thing, it really wasn't. People told her she was smart and clever, but being clever wasn't the same was being good at math. Math required patience and she did _not_ have any patience to solve scribble problems she would never have any real need for in life.

"Okay, listen up" the teacher said, calling the attention to herself. "Remember the test tomorrow, practice unless you want to get an F."

Arya froze.

 _Test? What test? When the hell did anyone say anything about a test?!_

"Uh, excuse me, miss?" Arya tried to sound calm and collected even though she felt like her heart had both stopped and was beating so hard it might jump out. How the hell was she supposed to pass a fucking test when she barely understood what the signs and scribbles meant? "But since when was it decided that we were going to have a test on this?"

"Since I told you all so two weeks ago, Miss Stark." The teacher looked at her with a smile that clearly said she thought Arya was a wasted human being.

 _Fuck!_ She was right. Arya had completely forgotten about that. Other stuff had gotten in her way, more important stuff. But her mom would kill her if she failed a test. Her dad would merely tell her that it's alright but to study harder for the next one. However her mom would go berserk.

Deciding to pass this stupid test no matter what became of her, she packed up her stuff and exited her last class for the day. If she had to stay up all night to study and then snack on M&Ms and drink coffee all day tomorrow, then so be it.

But that turned out to be easier said than done. As soon as she sat down at the dinner table in the apartment with all her books spread out she realized that she had no idea where to start. She didn't understand a shit. Nothing made sense and for the first ten minutes she just stared blankly at the books without reading.

She could always call Bran for help. No matter if he had come across this kind of math before, Arya was sure he was smart enough to figure it out. Her dad was also a choice. He wasn't a genius like Bran, but he was logical and methodical, which always helped. But her dad was most likely still at work and Bran was probably at his chess club. She didn't want to disturb either of them. So instead she settled with watching some vague _YouTube_ tutorials that didn't make sense either.

Hot Pie was also out of the question, he had a practical test and would be gone for a while. Gendry was nowhere to be found, and she didn't have his number like she did Hot Pie's so she couldn't call him. Not that she'd dared to do that anyway…

Arya was sure hours had passed and still she hadn't made sense of anything. Math was fucking annoying. Surely it only existed for sadistic teachers who weren't permitted to physically torture their students. Her thoughts floated away to another place. She found herself thinking about those arms, abs and that amazing v-shape. A part of her was embarrassed about the fact that she felt heat radiate from her core at the thought of her roommate she barely knew, but she didn't care.

Like lightning struck down from the sky the man entered the apartment. Gendry stepped through the door and closed it. He had headphones plugged in and was in his own world so he didn't notice her sitting there. But it was his outfit that had her staring.

He had casual wear on, but they looked ragged and old. Normally she saw him in henleys and jeans, though now he was wearing a ragged gray t-shirt with stains that looked like paint and oil, and _blackish gray grease._ His trousers had the exact same style, also stained. Gendry had the same kind of greasy black stuff smudged on his face. Was it wrong that rugged and sweaty Gendry made the heart worse and she could now feel her clit throbbing hard?

Her first instinct was that he had been at the gym, but you didn't get black grease all over you there. He looked up and nearly jumped when she saw her sitting there.

"Fucking hell, Arya!" he hissed loudly. "You scared the shit out of me!"

"Sorry" Arya mumbled, giving her eyes permission to stare at his sweaty skin for a micro second longer before tearing away her gaze to look him in the eyes. "Where have you been?"

"I was at work" he explained.

 _Work?_ "You have a job? Where?"

Gendry shrugged. "Part time job technically. At Tobho Mott's car repair."

A mechanic? Nice… Well, hot was the word she really wanted to think, but the sensible part of her brain stopped her. "Cool." The word came out a little too high pitched. Stupid hormones! Arya rubbed her thighs together to ease the feeling between her legs.

"What are you up to?" he asked. He leaned against a chair and it didn't exactly help that she saw how the muscles in his arms flexed. _Seven hells!_

But maybe math was the perfect solution to this mess. Math made her angry. Perfect! Arya cleared her throat. "This!" Her throat was parched but she ignored that. Arya threw the book at him and he quickly read the pages she struggled with. "It's fucking impossible!"

Gendry chuckled. "I remember this. I felt like that too in the beginning."

"Who helped you?" Arya demanded.

"My mom, she's pretty good at math. I could help you, if you'd like..."

"Yes!" That came out way to quickly but she only realized it afterwards. Gendry shot her a small smile and handed back the book.

"I'm just going to take a quick shower and wash off the grease."

"Yeah, okay, sure…"

He walked off and left Arya to smash her head into one of the books. _Stupid stupid stupid! Think of math! Or early mornings! Anything!_ This feeling had to go away! She barely knew him, and she was already ogling him. Arya focused on anything else but Gendry as he took his shower.

When he came out he was once again dressed in his classic henley and pair of plain jeans. The look made him look a lot classier than the clothes he wore before, but she really liked the ragged look. And why the hell was she rating his clothing choices again?

Stupid.

Arya tried to focus on the actual math as Gendry explained it to her. It _still_ honestly made no sense, but whatever. Her eyes unconsciously traveled to those blue, swirling orbs of his. His gaze was strained on the papers as he talked, she hoped the he didn't notice her stare at him. Whenever he was the one to look up, Arya quickly averted her eyes and stared blankly at her book, praying to every old god and new that she didn't look too guilty.

"Do you understand it now?" Gendry asked after a while. Arya blushed.

"Yes…?" she tried slowly.

Gendry smirked at her, his blue stare boring into her, seeing the truth. "No, you don't" he stated simply.

Arya shrugged and sighed simultaneously. "You're right. It's just the same gibberish crap the sadistic math teacher blabbered about." She waited a moment before lashing out. "But if I don't pass this test, mom will go mental! She'll kill me, or at least try. She didn't want me to go here, stupid Tully woman wanted me to go to a school closer to home! And since I don't and the only real reason I'm here is because I got a scholarship – and Syrio Forel – she would say that it's my _duty_ or whatever to excel, to prove that I can fence _and_ get good grades!"

Arya took a slight breather, which gave Gendry the opportunity to chime in. "I think it's a good reason for you to come here, you love to fencer after all."

"I think so too! But mom doesn't! And that's the problem! Every time we _Skype_ or talk or whatever she always bombards me with stupid questions! It's like she really trying to find every reason for me to leave this school _'Are you sure about this, sweet heart? Or how about this? Or this?'_!"

Gendry shook his head with a small smile playing on his lips. Normally Arya would have relished in that smile, but now she was fuming after finally having been able to let of a little steam. Even if that steam was partially blamed on the wrong person.

"Arya…" he started slowly. "I think she just cares about you. She's probably worried about your wellbeing."

"No! She doesn't! She-"

"No!" Gendry interrupted. He got up from his chair. Arya was struck with the fear that she had gone too far and that Gendry now hated her again. "Do you know what you need?" Arya sighed and shook her head. "Wait here."

He disappeared into the kitchen for a minute. Arya could hear him rustling around in there but she couldn't see what he did.

"Here." He sat something down in front of her.

"Ice cream?" Arya questioned with an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah!"

"You want me to stealth eat Hot Pie's ice cream? Why?"

Gendry shrugged and sat down. "Anything to make you feel better and stop you from seeing everything and everyone as shit…"

Arya jammed the spoon in the ice cream and looked at him, her eyes blazing. "I don't see everything as shit!"

"Honestly, you do sometimes."

Arya kicked him in the shin under the table. "Liar!" Gendry quirked and eyebrow. She slumped in her chair and dug up a large chunk of ice cream to stuff in her mouth. "Fine!" she ground out, her voice muffled and mouth stuffed with chocolate chip. "But it's not like you do it too!"

Gendry chuckled and held up his arms in surrender. "Guilty is charged!" He smirked at her. "Now shut up and eat the ice cream so I can go over this one more time."

XXX

The next morning Arya tried to avoid leaving the apartment for as long as possible. After another hour Arya had finally gotten it, but she was still terrified that she would forget it mid-way through the test. That fucking test! She just wanted it to be over so she could crawl into bed and forget that the world existed.

But like Jon pointed out when she had spoken to him the evening before – if she wanted it to be over she had to face it. She hated when Jon was right and she was wrong.

"Arya come on, you're going to be late" Hot Pie shouted from the hall.

Arya just clenched her jaw in response.

"Are you okay?" a deep voice asked. The voice sent a small shiver down her spine. She wasn't sure if that was good or not. His voice was still hoarse from sleep. Fuck it was sexy…

"Not really" Arya confessed without turning around to look at him. Gendry did the same gesture he had done a while ago when he put his hand on her shoulder in a reassuring way, just for a second but it still had the same effect on her. "What if I forget?" It came out as a whisper.

"I'll text you about it."

She turned around in confusion. "How can you text me about it when you don't have my number?"

Gendry smirked and held out his hand for her phone. She handed it to him and watched in slight awe as he typed his number on the screen and sent a text to himself. "I have your number now."

Arya was still in awe as she watched him put his jacket on and told her to move her arse or she was _really_ going to be late.

XXX

In the end, the test went better than she expected it to. Gendry had remained true to his word and sent a short text explaining the problem one final time. She had lunch with Brienne that day. Brienne of course had been slightly annoyed that Arya had stared at her phone when she was trying to start a conversation, but Arya had promised to make it up to her by practicing with her later.

She thanked the gods it was Friday. Now she actually could forget about the world.

Until Brienne called and demanded she reported to the fencing halls for practicing.

"How did the test go?" Gendry asked. She could tell he was on his way to work, he had changed into his ragged style again.

"Better than I expected" Arya replied and tried not to ogle him.

"Good. I have to get to work, but I'll see you later."

He started to make his way to leave. "Gendry wait!" He turned around. Arya took a deep breath. "Thank you. For all your help."

Gendry gave her the most genuine smile she had ever seen from him before. And it rubbed off. She hadn't smiled like that in forever. "You're welcome."

 **Keep the judging coming! Just kidding! Sort of. No but still! Leave a review and I'll see you soon!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi everyone out there! Hope you're all doing fab! Enjoy the chapter!**

Chapter 7

Arya had been sparring with Mycah for the last hour in Syrio's class. Mycah had gotten so much better in a short time. She was sincerely impressed. You could really tell he was giving it all he had. Sweat was running down his freckly face.

"Okay, students" Syrio called. "Take a break, then we continue."

Mycah immediately sank down on the floor panting, and Arya leaned against the wall, also breathing hard.

"You're getting really good" Arya panted and wiped her forehead with the back of her hand.

"Thanks" Mycah replied. He grunted and tried to stand up. Arya held out her hand for him to grab, which he did. "I'm gonna take a drink."

"Okay."

Arya barely had time to take a breath before the sleazy bastard decided to slide up to her.

"Hello, beautiful" Edric said. He towered over her and smirked like he was the hottest person in the world. Now, Arya wasn't going to lie and say that he was ugly, because he definitely wasn't. The guy looked good, she'd give him that. But he was such an asshole and he knew it.

"Edric" Arya replied stoically.

"How's your day been?"

"Fine." She clenched her jaw and tried to act natural despite the fact he was invading her private space again. She didn't even bother asking him the question back.

"Look." He stepped in closer to her whilst at the same time wrapping his arm around her shoulder. Arya squirmed and tried to free herself from his embrace but he held his ground. "Maybe sometime you'd like to practice with someone who actually _knows_ what he's doing and could give your pretty little body something to work with?"

Arya gaped at him, her face a mix of disgust and shock. But before she had a chance to answer his comment, Mycah came to her aid.

"Hey Arya, want to continue?" he asked with an innocent smile.

"Arya and I were talking" Edric spat. "So if you wouldn't mind piss off?"

Arya used the opportunity to wrench free from Edric's grasp. She stared at him with anger and disgust etched on her face. "You're such a dick!" She turned and grabbed Mycah's arm. "Come on, Mycah. Let's go."

She steered her friend away from Edric who just stood there and eyed her up and down. Suddenly she felt so exposed. Did he have to eye fuck her like that?

"Just ignore him, Arya" Mycah said.

Arya groaned and clutched Needle closer to her. "I try! But he's such a cunt!" Mycah blushed at her use of the word 'cunt'. "Oh, stop being so prude! You're in college now, it's time you get used to curse words and some sex education."

"Is that you're way of insinuating I'm a virgin?" Mycah stammered. Arya chuckled and nudged him in the side playfully.

"Come on, we're about to start again."

Syrio gathered all his students in a group. "Okay" he started. "I will call out two students and you will spar and show what you have learned. Don't be ashamed!" He added when he saw the faces of some. "You learn a lot by watching, and being watch adds to the pressure. Pressure is good. Pressure makes you want to excel!"

Arya didn't have a problem with sparring with other people watching her, all her life since she started fencing she had done many competitions, even though many of them were merely friendly kiddy ones they build confidence when it came to fencing in front of a crowd.

There were three pairs up before it was Mycah's turn. He got to spar against one of Edric's friends. Anyone could tell he was nervous and his bad confidence showed through. It didn't take long for Edric's friend to disarm him and Mycah sulked back to stand beside Arya, red as a beet. Some people sniggered. Arya was glad Syrio stepped in. If he hadn't she would have, and she wouldn't have been as calm.

"No!" he said calmly but with a harsh tone. "I will have no snakes in this class. You will respect one another, is that clear?" The ones who had sniggered looked bashful and nodded. "Good. Now. Arya Stark and Edric Dayne."

Her steely gray eyes zoned in on Edric's bluish purple ones as he stepped up from where he had been sitting leaning against the wall. He walked with a swagger that she didn't like. But on the bright side, when people were arrogant, they made mistakes. She shot him as much ice and venom as she could as she too walked to stand opposite him.

Edric gave her a crooked smile which could have made Joffrey Baratheon proud. They both changed their position to stand sideways and on bent knees.

"Begin" Syrio's voice echoed.

Arya wasted no time in calculating anything and just went for it. This was getting payback for his sleazy ass. He easily blocked her sword and sidestepped. She turned as well and they both stood bouncing on their feet for a moment. Arya watched his feet for a second before he sparred against her. As her focus was on his feet she was barely able block it and she stepped back a few paces. Though it was worth it, for now she had noticed that he stepped before he attacked.

"Focus, wolf girl" Edric said in a hushed voice.

That was it.

Damn him! He attacked again, but now she had the upper hand. All she had to do was sneak a quick glance on his feet to know his next move. Arya sidestepped just as he thrust his sword forward. The only thing Edric hit was the air beside her.

She used his slight confusion to her advantage and attacked fiercely. His grip had loosened which caused him to drop his sword. But Arya wasn't done there. She pushed him hard so that he fell onto his ass on the floor.

"What was that you said about focusing?" Arya seethed.

"I think we are done here" Syrio warned. "Class dismissed." Everyone started making their way out but Arya held her ground, standing with her feet on either side of his hips, stopping him from getting up.

"You know, it's sexy to have you on top" Edric smirked.

Arya fumed. Her first instinct was to kick him hard in the side. But she felt Syrio's eyes on her so instead she tightened her grip on Needle and stormed out. But not before kicking his sword to the other side on the hall. Arya wasn't sure why, but clutching Needle was something she always did when she was aggravated.

As soon as she entered the apartment she stalked past Gendry and Hot Pie who were both engrossed in homework, giving them a quick 'hi' and then stepped into the bathroom and locked the door behind her. She stripped and stepped into the shower, letting the almost scolding water run over her body.

She rested her forehead against the tile, breathing hard as the warm drops smattered down her neck and wet hair. The anger slowly washed away with the water. Arya turned around and let her back rest against the tile instead.

Her hand unconsciously moved down her side and slid in and cupped her breast. Her thumb and forefinger stroked and pinched her nipple, feeling it spring to life. A small burn ignited in her core. She let the other hand play with her collarbone and then travel down to linger at her other breast. Both her nipples were now hard and almost started to burn a little. The heat in her core grew and soon she felt her clit start to throb.

Arya let her left hand stroke the inside of her thighs. The teasing continued for a while before she let a finger run along her slit. A small whimper left her mouth. She didn't do it at _the thought_ of anyone. It was just anger and frustration being released through sexual acts.

She tried to keep quiet as one finger circled around her clit, easing the throb, and the other slowly slipping inside her hot core. The fingers on her clit pressed harder as she pumped hard in and out. Arya let out a deep breath instead of the moan the desperately wanted to leave her body. She added another finger, feeling her muscles start to tighten around them.

A quiet moan escaped and she pressed harder onto her clit. In the moment she came, biting her tongue to keep quiet, pictures of _him_ flashed in front of her. Flashes of Gendry's smile, his eyes, his flexing muscles and amazing v-shape.

"Fuck" she ground out.

Fuck was right. Normally when she masturbated she just imagined a celebrity crush or a seriously ripped guy with no face. But now _Gendry_ managed to sneak his way into her mind in the moment she came.

Arya sank down the tile until she sat down, letting the realization sink in. Suddenly she felt that flip in her stomach she knew she was supposed to feel when liking a guy, yet had never felt before despite previous boyfriends. She _liked_ him. Ogling was one thing. Arya had no shame in admitting she had checked him out several times. But liking someone was a different matter entirely.

Of course you could masturbate to the thought to someone you know without liking him or her, but that stupid flip changed things. Stupid bull…

She washed herself and turned off the shower. Her arm stretched out to reach for a towel when - _crap!_ \- she realized she had forgotten to grab one before entering the bathroom. And there wasn't one in stock. Arya went over her options in her mind for a minute or two before stepping out of the shower, dripping wet and naked and started pounding on the locked door.

"Hey! One of you, either one, help me!" She kept pounding and shouting until she heard shuffling outside and the sound of approaching steps.

" _Arya?"_ Gendry's voice sounded through the wooden door. _"Is everything okay? What's wrong?"_ His voice was filled with concern, it made Goosebumps break out across her skin. Or maybe that was just because she was wet and the air outside the actual shower was cold. But whatever.

She loved that he cared. Wait, what?

"I forgot a fucking towel" she explained in a groaning tone. "There's one on the chair in my bedroom. If I unlock the door, can you just drop it on the floor in here without looking inside, or something?"

She could hear Gendry clear his throat and didn't miss how his voice had gotten throaty. "Uh, yeah…"

The sounds of his footsteps decreasing and she unlocked the door. Arya mentally panicked when she remembered that she was a slob. Both bras and panties of hers were spread out across the room. Then again, if she knew Gendry correctly, he wouldn't point it out. Though you never knew, the guy always managed to surprise her.

Arya stepped backwards, back into the warmth of the shower and let some water run over her prickled skin to warm it up. Gendry knocked to signal he was back with her towel. She turned off the water and watched as the door opened a few inches.

"I promise I'm not peaking" Gendry swore.

"I believe you" Arya answered, yet she couldn't help but covering herself up with herself up as well as you could with only your arms and hands at your disposal.

The door opened at bit more and she saw Gendry's hand reach inside with her plain white towel and drop it on the floor.

"Thank you" Arya said.

"You're welcome, M'lady."

"Do not call me M'lady! I'm not a lady!"

Gendry used the hand inside the bathroom to give her the thumbs up gesture before closing the door.

Arya wrapped the towel securely around her and grabbed her belongings before exiting. Hot Pie stood in the kitchen with some horrible music Arya would never listen to voluntarily playing as he fired up some pans. Gendry was still sitting with his school work, his mouth quietly mouthing the words he read. She just had to make sure how bad the bra situation was.

"Hey, Gendry?" she asked.

He looked up and his eyes widened when she saw her standing in only a towel and her collarbone length hair wet and dripping. Arya was embarrassingly remembered of her state of clothing and pulled the towel tighter around her.

"Yeah?" he cleared his throat, a small blush creeping up his neck.

"Uh… I was just wondering…" Now it was her turn to blush. "When you fetched my towel if- if there were like some things lying around… Or something?" Arya cleared her throat and ran a hand through her wet hair.

"Oh." Gendry laughed nervously. "You mean the part where I had to move three of your bras to get to your towel?"

"Oh my fucking god!" Arya buried her flushed face in her hands. "Sorry about that." Her voice was muffled.

He chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. "Don't worry, it's fine."

Arya nodded and practically fled back to her room. And indeed. Three bras, one lacy black, one blue and one simple white had been hung on the armrest of the chair and Arya could bet her mother's ass that those were the ones moved. She threw herself on the bed and cried out in frustration. A mental note was made that she should make sure to put away her bras and panties in the future.

Deciding to just screw it and pretend that it didn't happen she put on a singlet and sweat pants. Since she couldn't stand Hot Pie's weird music she plugged in her phone into her speakers and put on music she liked. The beat always got her pumped up and before she knew it she was on her feet, her hips moving to the sound.

Gendry could hear her playing music from her room and for some reason he decided to put down his books and follow the sound of her music. The door was partially open, he got a pretty good view of Arya's activities in there.

She had shuffled all of her clothes and personal items aside and was now moving and bouncing to the beat of rap lyrics. Gendry couldn't make out exactly was it was he was rapping, something about sex and butts. Then again, he was too busy watching her hips swing and her tits bouncing. He felt like a pervert, standing there watching his roommate dance sexually. But he couldn't move, his feet were planted to the ground.

Her breasts were small, but round and they bounced happily every time she moved. Gendry had to bit his tongue to stop a groan from escaping as he felt the blood rush to his cock.

The rapper sang something about a girl going down on him and Arya sneakily lowered herself down to the beat and then sensually rose back up again. Her hips humped thin air in what looked like slow motion and Gendry felt himself become even harder. She let her hands slide down her side as she rolled her hips. They stopped at her hips, letting them linger there for a second before slowly, tantalizing letting them slide back up again. She pushed her tits together slightly as her hands passed them. Gendry could clearly see her cleavage enlarging and then decreasing. His cock twitched, painfully hard. Her hands rose above her breasts and tangled in her hair for a moment before she raised the above her head to pump the arms.

He was the one who wanted to do that to her, he realized. Fuck! Now he was really in deep shit! Jesus fucking Christ…

The song ended and Arya unplugged her phone from the speakers. She still hadn't noticed him lurking there. Good. He swiftly turned around and sneaked into his and Hot Pie's bathroom

Gendry splashed some water on his face, trying to compose himself. His cell phone rang.

 _Great,_ thought. It was the last person he wanted to talk to tight now. But he picked up anyway. He was _seriously_ in deep shit now.

 **Okay so what do you think? They're starting to develop feelings for one another! Yay!**

 **This had a bit of smut in it, and if any of you have a problem with that then I'm sorry, but this story is rated M for a reason. Remember that.**

 **But anyways… Remember to review! Please just give me something, some thoughts to work with! Please! I can beg you on my bare knees if you want me to! Then again you probably wouldn't get to see it since this is posted online and not in person… Sorry.**

 **See you soon!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello, beauties! I love you all for following this, thank you so much for reading! There just one thing I want to make clear. People have pointed out how Christianity or any other modern religion doesn't fit in in this story. This is a modern AU and therefore it will have elements of our modern world, which will include modern religion, modern tv-shows and other things like that.**

 **I mean, these people will celebrate Halloween, Christmas and other modern holidays as the story goes on, for goodness' sake! In today's world Christmas is barely connected to Christianity anymore. I have friends who aren't Christians who celebrate Christmas. It's just a tradition! People do it. So if I reference Christianity or any other religion, then that's the way it will be. Thank you.**

 **Now enjoy the chapter!**

Chapter 8

The music flowed through her headphones as she took care of a duty that was boring, but surprisingly relaxing. Laundry. There weren't any private washing machines on campus so she had to do her laundry in a wash house, but she didn't really mind.

However it was about time she did it. She was down to only one pair of underwear left, and that was the pair she was wearing. Arya was in full midst of collecting all of her washed clothes in a bag to put them in the dryer. She hummed the tune of the song. It was a rare thing for her to be in such a good mood as she was today, so of course it had to be jinxed.

"Hi, gorgeous" a voice said behind her.

Arya turned around and suppressed a groan when she saw who stood there. Edric stood leaning against the door, his t-shirt drenched in sweat along with his forehead. If she hadn't considered him a dick, she _might_ have been turned on by the sight. Had it been Gendry on the other hand? Swoon…

She pulled out her headphones even though she was tempted just to turn the music up louder and ignore him. But her mom and dad had taught her better than that, and after nineteen long years of nagging, she felt like she had to honor them. "Hello, Edric." She couldn't have been more stoic if she tried. "Stop calling me that."

"Why? You are."

Someone give her a gag and let her choke on it, please! "You have no right or reason to call me that. It's offensive."

He quirked an eyebrow and smirked at her. "What? Since when is it offensive to give compliments?"

Arya exhaled loudly. It was getting harder and harder to be patient with him. "If someone doesn't like what you're calling them, then it's offensive." She felt as if she was lecturing a five year old with tantrum issues.

Edric decided to act as if they didn't just have that conversation. "So, Arya… I just realized-"

"What are you doing here anyway?" Arya interrupted. All she wanted was to get rid of him.

"I was out for a run" Edric smiled. "Was just on my way back to my dorm."

"You live on the other end of campus?"

"I like the scenic route…"

That was a lie. She wasn't stupid, for fucks sake. "Sure…" She rolled her eyes and continued to put her wet clothes in the dryer, making sure that all of her underwear were concealed under other clothes.

"Anyway. We didn't get to finish our conversation the other day before joke of a fencer came and interrupted us."

Arya felt her blood start to fume. "Don't call him that, you wanker! He's my friend!"

"Oh please!" He laughed. "So how about that private session?" His eyes twinkled, and she didn't like it."

Arya slammed the shutter closed and set it the dryer to start. "I think I've made it pretty clear that I don't like you."

"You know you do, Arya" Edric had that cocky smile plastered on his face.

Arya grabbed her bag and made her way towards the door, but he was still blocking it. She leaned in and he immediately put his hands on her hips. She wanted to puke. Her face was inches from his when she spoke. "You might want to take a shower. You smell like shit." She pushed him hard in the side and forced him to move so that she could exit the wash house.

She hurried as fast as she could back to the apartment and slammed the door shut behind her and leaned against it. The sigh she let out was loud and frustrated. Would he never leave her alone?

"Hey?" Gendry asked her from where he had appeared from the kitchen. He was holding a sandwich in his hand and eyed her with a puzzled expression. "Are you okay?" How was it that he always noticed when something was wrong?

"Let's just put it this way" Arya started and took a breath. "Edric fucking Dayne is a dick!"

To Arya's surprise, Gendry laughed. "That he is."

"Wait! You know who he is?"

Gendry snorted, but in a playful way. "Posh, blond guy, fencer just like you, freshman who makes a name for himself by acting as if everyone else is less? How could I not?" Arya snorted as well.

"He's a wanker…"

"Yeah… But you're okay, right?"

"Yeah." She smiled at him and felt that annoyingly wonderful flip in her stomach again. Gendry smiled back and took a bite of his sandwich before walking into his room and closed the door behind him.

Arya washed her hands and walked into the kitchen to mimic Gendry's intention and make a sandwich of her own. Because she was weird when it came to her sandwich preferences she filled it with meat, lettuce, cucumber, melted cheese, ketchup and garlic sauce. Already stated, she preferred weird sandwiches.

As she sat down on the couch and started flipping through channels, finding nothing more interesting than _Masterchef Australia,_ she heard voices coming from the hallway and bent her head over the armrest and saw the up-side-down versions of Hot Pie and a guy with curly blond hair standing in the hallway. They were both chatting about something, and the smiles they exchanged were a lot like the ones she sometimes exchanged with Gendry.

"Oh, hey Arya" Hot Pie greeted with a smile when he saw her leaning over the armrest to look at them. Up-side-down Hot Pie and up-side-down other guy approached her and she turned around to look at them properly.

"Hi!" Arya said and took a bite of her sandwich.

Hot Pie grabbed the blond guy's arm and guided him closer. "This is my boyfriend."

She hadn't expected him to be gay, but she was happy for him. She was happy that he was so carefree about it, that it wasn't something he felt like he needed to tell her during an awkward 'we need to talk' conversation.

"Hello, Hot Pie's boyfriend. I'm Arya."

His boyfriends chuckled and took the hand she held out to shake. "Lommy."

"Hi."

"We were just talking about catching a movie" Hot Pie said.

"But hey!" Lommy said with a smile. "Why don't you join us? The more the merrier." Hot Pie nodded in agreement.

"I don't want to interfere in your time together" Arya excused herself.

"You wouldn't! Please!"

Arya chuckled and nodded. "Alright then. I'm just gonna grab my things real quick."

"Wait, what about Gendry?" Hot Pie said. "We can't not invite him as well."

"I'll ask him" Arya volunteered.

She got up and knocked on his door. He opened it and monitored for her to come inside, but he was on his phone so he didn't say anything to her. Arya realized that she had never been inside his room despite living with him for about a month.

It was cleaner than she had expected it to be, and it smelled exactly like him. The wonderful mix of cologne, classic boy and just _Gendry._ She found that she breathed harder to get to smell it just a little bit more.

"Yeah, okay" Gendry said into the phone. He looked rather annoyed. "But listen, I-" He was obviously interrupted because he suddenly stopped talking and closed his eyes as if saying a silent prayer for patience. "Fine. Bye." He hung up and turned towards her. "Sorry about that. Hi."

"Hi." Damn! She stared again. She couldn't help it, he was just so damn attractive!

"What's up?"

"Well, Hot Pie, Lommy and I were planning on catching a movie, want to come?"

He smiled sadly at her. "I'd love to." Her heart sped up at that. "But I can't. I'm meeting someone." And there her heart sank into the dust.

"Who?" she demanded.

"Bella. My girlfriend."

 _Girlfriend?_

 **Okay! So before you all start to give me the "No you can't do that! They're half siblings! It's wrong" speech, I KNOW! I know their state of family, but they don't know that. In the books, they don't know that they're most likely related so can't we just ignore that small fact and pretend that they're not? I tried to use Jeyne or Willow as this character instead, believe me I did. But they didn't fit it. So Bella it is! Sorry…**

 **See you soon!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Alright, so let me be the first one to comment on the fact that this isn't the best chapter I've ever written. The contrary in fact, it sort of sucks. The beginning is fine, then it just goes downhill from there. You have been warned.**

 **Try to enjoy! ;-)**

Chapter 9

"Brienne, _please!_ " Arya begged into the phone. She had been nagging her friend for the past twenty minutes, lying on her bed with her headphones plugged into her phone, which was resting on her chest. "I can't go alone! Just go with me! We don't even have to be there for more than a couple of hours, I promise!"

" _That's still a couple of hours too much, Arya"_ Brienne sighed.

"Please! I'm begging here for fucks sake!"

" _I don't like parties! They just make me uncomfortable."_

Arya groaned loudly. "Come on, Brie! It's just a party! Music, dance, free drinks and hot guys to ogle! What's not to like?"

" _You just want to eye fuck Gendry…"_

"Hey!" Arya spat. "I don't you that in confidence! Don't use it against me! And besides, I just found out a couple of days ago that he has a girlfriend… So there's not much to eye fuck anymore."

" _I still don't know… I wouldn't know what to wear. And I suck at the whole makeup and hair thing!"_

Arya sighed. "Look, I'm not claiming to be an expert when it comes to fashion and girly stuff, but I do have an older sister who used me as her dress up dolly for six years. Picked up a few tricks back then."

" _I was planning on catching a movie with Renly anyway…"_

"Who the fuck's Renly?" Then she realized. "Wait, Renly _Baratheon_? You know him?"

" _Yeah…"_ She could practically hear Brienne blush on the other line.

"But you wished there was more?" Arya guessed with a small smile playing on her lips.

" _No! Yes…"_ Brienne sounded sheepish.

"So what's stopping you, then?"

" _Oh you know!"_ Suddenly Brienne was her old sarcastic self. _"The small, insignificant detail that he happens to be gay_ and _has boyfriend! He's with Loras Tyrell."_

Arya was quiet for a few moments as she let Brienne's words sink in. "Ouch…" she finally said.

" _Tell me about it. Ar, I'm sorry, but I'm not going."_

"Fine! I guess I'll just have to go on my own then." There was no way she was missing her first college party.

XXX

So she ended up going on her own. Arya stood in front of the mirror, music playing in the background as she put some makeup on. Not a lot, just eyeliner, mascara and some lip gloss. Her clothes were simple as well. She had a pair of black skinny jeans, a blue singlet and a black leather jacket.

She had hoped that someone else she had some contact with would go, but Shireen said she wouldn't when Arya asked. At least she had Hot Pie and Lommy. But they would probably hang out with Gendry and she had discreetly been trying to avoid him for the last couple of days.

Arya turned off the music and put her phone securely in her pocket with her keys. She just had to make sure that no one got close to her pocket during the night. It was Friday after all, so she could be out for as long as she liked. Her parents never needed to know.

"Arya, you ready?" she heard Hot Pie call from the living room.

"Coming!" she called back. She turned out the light and stepped out, closing the door behind her. Hot Pie and Lommy sat on the couch, Lommy's legs in Hot Pie's lap. "Where's Gendry?" Arya heard herself asking before she could stop herself. Damn it! Wasn't she supposed to ignore _him_ now?

"The stupid fucker got held up at work" Lommy answered without taking his eyes of the TV. "Said he'll be there as soon as he can."

Arya nodded slowly. "Shall we go?"

"Yup!" Hot Pie said and removed Lommy's legs from his lap so he could get up. He threw on a jacket and grabbed some car keys. But before he could do or say anything else, Lommy had gotten on his feet as well and yanked the keys out of his hand.

"Nope! I'm driving!" Lommy stated simply.

"What?!"

"My car, my rules, Hottie Pie!" He blew Hot Pie and air kiss and made his way out. "Come on, Arya! Let's raise the roof!"

Arya laughed and followed Lommy out, dragging Hot Pie with her. "But do we even have to drive? It's on campus."

"Because we at least have to pretend we have some sort of swagger" Lommy answered with a sly smile. Arya chuckled.

They drove the one minute drive to the right campus building. The bass of the music could be heard from outside, even before they stepped out of the car. More cars were parked around them and people around them stood and chatted, of course whilst drinking.

"This is fucking amazing" Arya breathed, completely star struck.

"You ain't seen nothing yet" Lommy said and dragged them both inside the building.

 _Truth, Lommy, Truth._ Sure, she had been to high school parties, but this was something different. Maybe it was just that everyone was age nineteen and up, maybe it was something else. Arya wasn't sure, but it felt completely different. Both Hot Pie and Lommy seemed to understand what she was thinking and smiled at her.

They almost ran out on the dance floor and started to dance with the other people there. Arya screamed the lyrics with everyone else as she jumped up and down. Hot Pie and Lommy were both doing some silly and clearly already practiced dance routine.

Arya ended up next to a group of screaming girls in their early twenties who gladly welcomed her into their circle. Though she was sure they wouldn't have been as welcoming if it wasn't for the alcohol they were most likely intoxicated in. But she enjoyed the moment and danced with them.

A while later they disappeared to do only the gods know what, so Arya snaked her way through the crowd to find her two friends. They were sitting on a couch sipping a beer each.

"Hey!" Hot Pie shouted over the sound of the music and handed her a beer. She wasn't that much into beer, she wasn't her brothers who both thought of the drink as gold. But she was thirsty and anything would do.

She sat down on the armrest and opened the can. It tasted like shit, but it was cold and helped with her thirst. Since they could barely hear each other, only a few words were exchanged. Lommy asked something about the group of girls Arya danced with earlier, but she couldn't make out exactly what.

"Gen is in the house!" Hot Pie suddenly shouted and Arya looked up to see her dreamy man walking towards them. But she was painfully reminded that he wasn't _her_ man, he never had been. Because a girl clung to him arm like a fucking leech. She had to be his girlfriend, Bella. Her black hair was perfectly curled and she wore a tight, short red dress that would have any guy staring at her giant boobs. They had to be fake, no one had that big breast, right?

"And he brought his girl…" Lommy sighed and took a swig of his beer. Arya wasn't sure if Lommy was tipsy or not, however his tone made it clear that he didn't like Bella. Good. At least she had one person on her side. She had just decided to hate Gendry's girlfriend, for the simple reason that she was his girlfriend.

"Hey, guys!" Gendry answered and sat down on the other armrest with Bella immediately seizing the opportunity to sit down on his lap. "Hi, Arya."

Arya gave Gendry a look of acknowledgement and chugged down the last of her drink. She couldn't stop staring at the way Gendry's hand was placed on Bella's waist as he talked with Hot Pie. Bella hadn't even said hello to any of them, she seemed to prefer to just sit and play with the ends of Gendry's hair and giggle at nothing.

She couldn't stand the scene. The stupid jealousy was a monster within her that just clawed and screamed. She had to get out of there. After excusing herself from the group she opted for the nearest balcony to get some fresh air.

The music was muffled out there, and the fresh night air calmed her a little. Arya leaned with her arms against the balcony parapet. Sighing, she fished a packet of cigarettes from her pocket free from keys and the phone. She was just about to light one when she remembered her promise to Gendry. No matter how annoyed she was with him, or rather his stupid girlfriend, Arya felt as if she had to honor that promise.

So she threw it over the edge with a slight groan and watched it land on the ground. Inside she threw the rest of the package in the nearest garbage bin and thought that she would just have to cope without it. Just because she was stupid and wanted to honor a promise.

When she walked back to the couch Hot Pie, Lommy, Gendry and _Bella_ sat on she noticed that the first two were gone. Hot Pie and Lommy were nowhere in sight. Gendry on the other hand had opted for sitting down on the actual couch instead of the armrest. Bella was tucked in under his arm, now more alike a leach than ever and dragged her hand up and down his thigh.

Arya stopped in the middle of her tracks. Gendry turned his head to face his girlfriend and Bella took the opportunity to latch onto his mouth, literally devouring it. _Oh hell no!_

She turned around and stalked off. There was no fucking way in hell she was going to spend any more time with those two. Now she just needed something to take the lid off, something to make her forget about Gendry for the rest of the night.

Alcohol was the answer.

Well inside the kitchen she took and unopened bottle of liquor. You never knew where the opened ones had been, or whose mouth they had touched. She poured the liquid into a shot glass and downed it. Then another, and another.

After a while she wasn't sure how many shot she had taken, but she was certainly past tipsy. Arya hadn't seen any of her friends for over an hour, instead just sitting and laughing with some other drunken girl in a corner.

The girl was in the midst of telling a slurry story of another party and Arya was giggling at nothing. Shot glasses be damned she thought and took a swig directly from the bottle.

Some part of her that was still sensible told her to slow down, and the weird thing was that she actually listened to it. Arya left the drunken girl and stepped out on the balcony again. The cold air brought her back to reality slightly.

She couldn't stay here. She had to leave before she got even more drunk and did something she'd regret in the morning. People were still everywhere and she had to push and pull people aside to make her way out.

"Arya hey! Where are you going?" The deep voice rumbled. A strong hand grabbed her arm and turned her around. Gendry's blue eyes stared into her gray, now glossy ones.

"Let me go!" Arya yanked her arm free. "I'm out of here!" She continued to make her way out

"Wait! I should walk you to the dorm."

Arya turned around with a sarcastic smile plastered on her face. "Oh no, no, no! You stay here and continue to suck face with your girlfriend!" She gave him a hard pat on the arm and then walked out, leaving him behind.

XXX

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't go to sleep. It felt as if the room was spinning slowly, and she felt so freaking warm. Tossing and turning let out a loud groan. She was tired, but sleep wouldn't take her. Stupid…

She heard the door in the hall open and close. The voice of Hot Pie saying good night could be heard, and the voices of Gendry and a giggling girl shuffling their way to the bedroom beside hers.

Arya turned to her phone to check the time. The light blinded her but she was able to make out that it was 02:37 am. She groaned.

Suddenly the sound of a bed shuffling and the sound of a girl gasping could be heard. _For fuck's sake!_ Arya could hear Bella gasping and moaning Gendry's name and the sound of Gendry's small grunts.

She took her pillow and covered her face with it to try and block out the sound of the guy she liked having sex with someone else. But it didn't work. The sound just continued to haunt her as she lay on her bed and tried to fall asleep.

Eventually Arya got up and walked out of the room.

"Boo on you!" Arya hissed as she walked past Gendry's closed bedroom door.

She knocked on Hot Pie's door and was surprised to hear him tell her to enter. Hot Pie was half sitting, half lying on his bed with back against a pillow leaning against the wall.

"You okay?" he asked when she entered and closed the door behind her. "Still drunk?"

"How did you know?" Arya asked, puzzled and slightly slurry.

"Gendry told me you were drunk and went home" Hot Pie answered simply and grabbed his phone and started checking his social media.

"Right… Can I sit down?"

"As long as you're not going to puke on my sheets." Hot Pie winked at her.

"I'm not _that_ drunk!" Arya retorted. She sat down on Hot Pie's bed and just sat quiet for a few minutes before lying down across it. "Do they always fuck this loud?" The sounds could be heard from in there as well.

"Yep" Hot Pie answered, popping the _p_.

"So this isn't the first time?"

"Nope." Again, popping the p.

"Where's Lommy? I thought he was going to stay the night."

Hot Pie sighed. "No… He isn't very fond of Bella. So when he heard she was going to stay, he didn't want to."

"Smart guy" Arya scoffed. "She's kind of a slut, right?"

He sighed again. "I'm not going to answer that, Arya. Gendry is my friend so I won't say anything about his girlfriend for the sake of keeping peace."

"Only because you know I'm right! You don't like her either!"

The look on Hot Pie's face was enough to convince her.

After a while, when the sounds died down, Arya walked back to her own room, hoping that she would now get at least a few hours of sleep.

 **Now, I've never been drunk before, which is why I'm terrible at writing from a drunk person's POV, but I didn't want to write Gendry having sex with Bella in detail so this is the result. Hopefully the next chapter will be better… Bye!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter ten my friends! And personally I like this a lot better than the last one! So I hope you like it as well! Enjoy!**

Chapter 10

She woke up with a throbbing headache the next morning. It felt as if someone had taken a hammer and was now beating her temple furiously. Arya supposed she only had herself to blame in the end. She wanted to blame Gendry. Man how she so desperately wanted to, but she couldn't.

Her being hungover wasn't his fault. It was hers. She was the one who tried to drench her jealousy in liquor, not him. And Gendry had every right in the world to sleep with his girlfriend. It just hurt, that's all.

Arya didn't want to leave bed all day, but she was thirsty as hell and desperately craved something that could sooth her headache. She slowly sat up, feeling a slight nausea wash over her. The groan she let out was quiet but it felt as if she had been speaking into a microphone since it made her whole head pulse hard.

With slow steps she walked to open the door. The wooden floor felt cold against her bare feet. Arya didn't care, and started to make her way through the living room to the kitchen. Voices could be heard from there, and Arya wished they would just shut up and leave her in peace.

The owners of the voices sat at the kitchen island, drinking a cup of coffee each. Arya stopped when she saw who they were. Gendry and Bella. Embarrassment wash over her as she remembered that she wore nothing but Jon's old baseball t-shirt and a pair of worn hot pants. Her hair was knotty and could easily be mistaken for a crow's nest on top of her head.

Bella turned her head and looked at her with the eyes of someone watching a dead animal. She didn't even have the decency to say hello! For some reason, Gendry blushed when he saw her. Arya didn't even want to know why. They were probably talking about their active sex session from last night.

The three of them looked at each other for a few moments before Arya ran out of patience. "I'm going back to bed" she spat and quickly turned and stalked off.

Gendry got up and followed. Arya tried to be quick enough to be able to slam the door in his face, but she wasn't. He made it inside at the same time as she did. Arya threw herself on the bed, pulled the cover up to her chin and refused to look at the blue eyed beauty who eyed her with concern.

"What is _she_ still doing here?" Arya ground out and tried to bury her face in her pillow.

"She stayed the night" Gendry shrugged and leaned against the door frame with his hands in his pockets. "Why aren't you dressed?"

Arya feverishly removed the cover from her body and sat up, her eyes boring into his. She found it hard to still be mad when she looked into those blue orbs of his, but held her ground. "Oh! Well, had I known that _Mrs Gendry Waters_ would stay for breakfast in the morning, I would have gotten dressed. Happy now?"

Gendry sighed. "She's not _Mrs Gendry Waters_ , Arya…"

"Could have fooled me." Arya went back to bury herself in her pillow.

"Okay I'm going to let that one slide since I know you're hungover today…" He took a deep breath. "Can I get you some aspirin?"

"I'm perfectly capable of procuring my own aspirin, thank you!" Her voice was muffled from the barrier of the pillow.

"Fine!" Gendry spat and held up his arms in mock surrender. "Whatever!" She could hear the hurt in his voice and felt slightly guilty about her bad mood, but then decided that she didn't have to care right now.

She didn't leave the bed again until she was sure Bella had left. No one was home this Saturday. Hot Pie was probably at Lommy's dorm and Gendry was either at work or with his little leech. Arya secretly wished it wasn't the latter.

She took a long shower and tried to wash off the smell of alcohol off her body and then proceeded to take her beloved aspirin and force down some cereal. Despite the fact that she loved having the apartment to herself, she felt all cramped up inside.

Usually she would lay naked on the couch, eating chips or something. Like she did when she had the house to herself in Winterfell, yet now she wanted nothing but to get out of there.

Arya dressed in sweat pants and a hoodie, and put her hair up in a ponytail. She didn't care about the fact that she had zits on her chin that needed covering. Fuck that. After sending a quick text to Brienne she grabbed her eyes to lock the door behind her and walked out.

The cold October air did wonders to her headache and cured it faster than any pill could have. She walked to a nearby park and sat down on one of the benches. Some hopeful ducks from the pond across from her waddled over and looked at her with big, black eyes.

"I don't have any breadcrumbs" Arya murmured to them. They kept pleading her for a short while with their big eyes before waddling back to the pond. Arya chuckled and looked up at the gray sky. The sun was shy these days, despite the fact that she was now residing in King's Landing where it almost always was hot.

"I got your text" Brienne's voice echoed and Arya removed her glance from the sky to look at her tall friend. "How's your hangover?"

"Better than it was before" Arya answered in a sigh. "Don't be surprised if the ducks some begging…"

"What?" Brienne questioned with a puzzled look.

"Nothing…"

Brienne nodded slowly. "So… Do you want to talk about it?"

Arya faced her friend and felt her defensive side armor itself. "Talk about what?"

"About why you went and got yourself drunk at that stupid party last night."

Arya made a farting sound with her tongue stuck out. A childish gesture she had never really been able to get rid of. "There's nothing to say really! I saw the guy I like make out with his sleazy leech girlfriend and then I heard them have sex for half the night in the apartment! It's all so fucked up!"

"Ah huh" Brienne said. "So stop liking him…"

"Easier said than done, Ms _I've had a crush on my gay friend for half my life_."

Brienne tilted her head and gave Arya the same kind of look that her mother usually did when Arya was sassy. "I'm not saying that it's easy. But maybe it's the right thing to just let him go. There are other guys out there."

"Right back at you, babe" Arya retorted.

"Would you leave my pathetic love life out of this, Arya? This is about you."

Arya groaned loudly, causing an old couple to look at her with shock and confusion. Arya ignored them. "Why is this my life? Sansa is the one who always gets caught in love triangles and shit! She's the one who reads romantic novels and watches _Titanic_! Why me?"

"I don't know" Brienne answered.

Brienne let Arya rant a little more before pulling her pathetic frame up and dragged her to the nearest coffee shop so she could get some food into her system. Arya didn't have any money on her, so Brienne paid, telling Arya that she owed her one.

After that they walked a couple of turns around the park just to have something to do before heading back to Arya's apartment dorm. Still there was no one there, but Arya was happy about that.

They spent the rest of the day watching shitty reality shows before Hot Pie entered, panting his lungs out with five grocery bags in his hands.

"Give me a hand, here?" he pleaded. Brienne immediately rose to her feet and grabbed three of his bags without any real effort.

"Jeez, Hot Pie! What's with all the food? Are we throwing a party I don't know about?" Arya asked as she took the fourth bag from the chubby boy who went to wash his hands.

"No, Arya, we're not throwing a party" Hot Pie said through the open bathroom door. "But if you ever entered the kitchen for anything other than coffee then you'd notice that we're pretty much out of everything."

"Touché!" Arya chuckled and started to help Brienne unload the bags. There was an impressive amount of Skittles in her bag. We're talking like _a lot_. "Hey, what's with all the Skittles?"

"They're Gendry's" Hot Pie explained.

"Does he have a guy period or something?" Arya snorted at her own comment and Brienne blushed slightly.

"No he just likes Skittles. It's his thing, okay. Don't judge!"

"I wasn't planning to." Not a lot.

They unpacked the rest of the bags and then Brienne excused herself, saying that she wanted to study for a test. So Arya and Hot Pie were left alone.

Arya ended up sitting on one of the stools at the kitchen island, watching as Hot Pie cooked the dinner of the day. She watched in fascination as he chopped onions with incredible speed and then swiftly used his knife to scrape them into the pan. She could never do it that good. One way or another she always ended up spilling half of it on the side of the pan.

The most complicated dish she could ever make was pasta with ketchup, and somehow it always stuck to the bottom no matter how much she stirred. "I could never cook like you do…" Arya sighed and inhaled the wonderful smell of cooking onions.

"Have you tried?" Hot Pie mused and turned to face her.

"No…"

"Then wash your hands and put on an apron 'cause your helping me." Hot Pie eyed her expectantly. Arya just tried to hide behind the kitchen island.

"Uh, no! Unless you want to eat coal dust for dinner, I suggest you scrap that idea!"

"Come on! I won't let that happen, honest! And you won't always live with a cooking major, you know. Sooner or later you'll have to cook on your own."

"Can't I just order take away from your future place? Like, every day?" There was a pleading tone to her voice.

Hot Pie quirked an eyebrow. "You can't complain about not being able to cook and then refuse an offer to learn."

Arya groaned. She didn't want to, yet she had to admit that he was right. It was hypocritical to do what she just did. So she washed her hands and put on the apron Hot Pie offered her. At first she did a lousy job cutting the carrots and tomatoes, but eventually managed to get a slight hang of it. They were all in different shapes and sizes, but Arya was satisfied with the result.

Baby steps, she told herself. Baby steps.

And since today's dish actually was pasta, baby steps indeed.

With Hot Pie's guidance she managed to cook up a decent tomato sauce. The reason it tasted good was probably because Hot Pie was in charge of the spices, but still! She cooked! And didn't burn everything!

Gendry entered just in time for dinner, all sweaty and covered in grease. She still eye fucked him every time he looked like that, she couldn't help it. Her stomach still did these weird flips. Arya was getting used to it by now. However she wasn't happy whenever she felt them anymore. It was tragic, _she_ was tragic, mooning over a taken guy…

"Are my eyes deceiving me or is Arya Stark cooking?" Gendry chuckled, his eyes taking in the peculiar scene. Arya lowered her head and busied herself with the pan to avoid having to answer. Thankfully Hot Pie came to her aid.

"Arya Stark is cooking" he beamed.

Gendry clapped his hands, half sarcastic, half applauding for real. "Awesome! As soon as I'm done showering, I'll write a letter to Gordon Ramsey himself!" Arya felt the blush creep up on her cheeks and had to fight hard not to throw the salt shaker at him.

Gendry smirked at her and turned to have his shower. A battle was going on inside her. Should she just try and get over him like Brienne said, or should she fight for him? The easiest way was to give up. But Arya Stark never took the easy way out.

 **Well, well, well! Hope I did a good job on writing Arya hungover, don't scold me too hard, okay? Never been hungover either… Until next time, my lovelies!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hello, my darlings! Here is chapter 11 for you. Thank you to everyone who favorites, follows and reviews! It means so much to have your support! (And I don't own the song** _ **This is Halloween**_ **! Or the characters… If I did, everyone would be ALIVE)**

 **Enjoy!**

Chapter 11

" _This is Halloween, this is Halloween,_

 _Pumpkins scream in the dead of night,_

 _This is Halloween, everybody make a scene,_

 _Trick or treat,_

' _Til the neighbors gonna die of fright,_

 _It's our town, everybody scream,_

 _In our town of Halloween,"_

" _Oh my god,_ Hot Pie!" Gendry groaned as he entered the kitchen on the morning of October 31st. "Do you have to play that song _every_ year?"

Hot Pie and Arya giggled at his reaction. "It's tradition, Gendry! You have to respect tradition!"

"It's _your_ tradition!"

"I like it" Arya proclaimed happily. "It puts us the right mood! Plus there's the Halloween party tonight."

She seemed happy this morning. Gendry watched the smirk play on her full lips. Her grey eyes glistened with expectation. He found it hard to feel any sort of negative emotion when around her. Gendry had never felt like that before. Bella was just… _Bella._ He often wondered why he even stayed with her, he wasn't as if he loved her. The poor dude had never loved anyone. But Arya? She was something different.

He felt somewhat guilty over nursing a boner for his roommate whilst he still had a girlfriend. Yet again, he didn't love Bella. Most people would call him a douchebag, and honestly he didn't blame them.

But then he remembered that he was supposed to be grumpy. "You haven't been friends with him for as long as I have…"

Arya merely shrugged in response, and then checked the time on her phone. She rose to her feet and stretched. "I should get going. If I want to persuade Brienne to join us tonight, I should get an early start."

Gendry watched her walk away in her baggy pajamas to her bedroom and close the door behind her. He sighed and sunk down on the chair she had been sitting on and reached for the coffee.

"Gendry, what the fuck?" Hot Pie hissed. His chubby friend eyed him with his eyes narrowed and his lips pursed.

"What?" Gendry questioned, puzzled. What could he possibly have done wrong now? "What's your problem?"

"Oh I'm not the one with a problem here, Gendry. You are!"

"Me?" He forced himself to act as if he had no idea where this was going, yet he had a pretty good idea. This was about a certain chestnut haired beauty that happened to live under the same roof.

"Don't think I haven't noticed the way you make moon eyes over Arya! You have a girlfriend, you idiot!"

Gendry rubbed his face with his hands, he suddenly felt so tired. "I know…"

"So what are you doing?" Hot Pie demanded.

"I don't know…" Gendry replied with a shrug. "I wish I did…"

Hot Pie got up and straightened his t-shirt. "Well figure it out. 'Cause this game you're playing, it'll only end in blood." He walked off, leaving Gendry more confused and ashamed of himself than he had ever been before. What the hell?

XXX

Apparently Arya did manage to convince her friend to join them to the local Halloween party. She entered the apartment, looking rather pleased with herself, followed by the tall blond. Gendry knew Brienne through rumor. They had never spoken, the girl had a rumor for being a bit hard. She was usually mocked by the older students for her size, they called her Brienne the Beauty.

"So, Brienne" Arya called as she lead her friend through the hall and living room. "We have two hours, and in that time you will have the coolest costume out there! What did you bring?"

Brienne sheepishly showed Arya what looked like a fencing suit. Arya groaned loudly. "Brie! Come on! That's not a costume, that's your fencing gear!"

"It was the closest thing I had" Brienne spat. "You should be glad I'm coming at all!"

Arya turned to Gendry who understood he had been caught staring and cleared his throat. "Gendry, please tell Brienne that wearing the suit she wears on a daily basis in practice doesn't count as a Halloween costume!"

"Sorry, Arya but I'm staying out of this one." He cleared his throat again and tried to figure out something else to say. Thankfully he didn't have to because Hot Pie and Lommy walked out of Hot Pie's room dressed as Bert and Ernie from that kids show he watched one too many times as a kid. They were both grinning like the stupid oafs they were, but likeable oafs.

"You haven't even started dressing up yet" Lommy exclaimed.

"And you're two hours early" Arya retorted. Lommy grinned at her and nodded. "But you have a point, come on, Brienne." Arya dragged her reluctant friend into her room and closed the door.

Gendry was overcome with the sudden want to be the one in her room instead of Brienne. Gods how he wanted to be alone with her. To talk to her, laugh with her, make her laugh at his stupid jokes, hold her body close to his, let his hands explore her, have her nimble fingers explore his body. He blushed at that last one. He shouldn't want this, but he did. And there was nothing he could do about it.

Deciding that he should probably get a move on as well he went to take a shower. He silently thanked his lucky star that Bella considered Halloween stupid. She had told him she would rather drown herself than come to a "retarded geek fest". Maybe this was good thing, it would give him some alone time with Arya. _If_ Brienne wouldn't be tied to her hip, which Gendry sadly suspected that would be the case.

He let out a sigh as he felt the warm water cascade down his body. His muscles relaxed and his mind as well. He worried too much. About everything. At least that was what his mom said whenever they spoke.

Gendry could practically hear her voice scold him.

" _Gendry, you have to stop worrying so much. Things always work out in the end."_

Hopefully she was right…

XXX

He, Hot Pie and Lommy waited impatiently for the girls to get ready. They had heard Brienne's complaints and Arya's scolding in there over the last hour, at some points more than others.

When they finally exited, Gendry almost lost his breath. She looked amazing. No! Amazing wasn't the right word. Striking? No, that didn't seem to fit either. Then he realized.

Beautiful.

She looked _beautiful_.

She looked like a medieval warrior princess with a pair of tight dark brown breeches, a linen tunic tucked in under a silver belt and a bodice made of metal and chainmail. A model of a knife hung from her belt in a sheath. Her hair was curly and slightly tousled around her face, framing it beautifully. The makeup she wore was quite simple but striking. She had a smokey eye effect which made her eyes look impossibly bright and silvery. He couldn't keep his gaze of them.

"You look…beautiful" Gendry breathed, taking her in. Gods, what was he doing?

Arya blushed at his comment and looked down on the floor. "Thanks…" he murmured.

Gendry noticed Hot Pie eye the both of them. For a second he looked grim, then he plastered a smile on his face and stood up.

"Shall we go?" he asked.

They agreed and made their way out. Brienne was cramped in the passenger seat in Lommy's car. Lommy was driving, and Arya, Gendry and Hot Pie sat together in the back seat with Arya in the middle. Gendry tried to ignore the feeling of her thigh pressing against his. It was maddening to feel her and not being able to do anything about it. All he wanted to do was to run his hand along the smooth fabric of her pants.

He yanked in the collar of his shirt, trying to be as discreet as possible. Now he almost regretted dressing as pirate. At the time it seemed as a funny and silly idea, but now the jacket was making him sweat like crazy and the feeling of Arya pressed up against him didn't exactly help. At least he didn't have an eye patch on, that would have been tragic.

"Are you warm or something?" Arya asked, gesturing to his collar. Damn it! She saw what he was doing.

"Sort of" he rasped. His throat had gone completely dry. "It's a little warm in here…"

"So roll down a window." She looked at him as if he was the dumbest thing on earth. But at least she seemed amused as she was smirking at the same time.

"Right!" Gendry smiled awkwardly and rolled down his window. "I like the knife" he said a while later, mostly just to say something at all.

"I like it as well" Arya smiled. "I have real one at home, but I doubt the club would be too keen on letting me pass the bouncer if I carried a real weapon."

Gendry chuckled. "Where did you get the real one?"

Arya shrugged. "I have two older brothers who both thought I should be able to protect myself…"

The Dragon Pit was already crowded when they got there. Gendry considered this one of the better places in King's Landing, excluding his home with his mother and his job. The club had a friendly atmosphere to it, unlike many other establishments. There were often concerts held there. He could never afford to go to any of them, but he wished he could.

This night they hosted a Halloween party, and Lommy had insisted that they had to go. He hadn't objected, he had been there before but only during the times it was just a club.

Music played loudly and Gendry found himself drowning in a sea of attendants in costumes. They danced, hung out and drank their cocktails. A large smile played on his lips. This was exactly what he needed. A night away from Bella where he could just hang with his friends.

"Does it have to be so crowded?" Brienne asked, looking around, clearly displeased.

"Drop the attitude, Brie" Arya countered and smirked. "This is brilliant, you'll see. You don't even have to drink anything if you don't want to, you can survive on coke."

"You're _not_ getting drunk tonight, Arya" Brienne warned angrily.

Arya rolled her eyes at her friends comment. "At a place this crowded? Do you think I'm stupid?"

"Sometimes…"

Gendry's head turned to each person in time with their comments, he felt as if she was watching a damned ping pong game. Hot Pie was the one to break it up, though it was pretty obvious he was quite entertained as well.

"Okay, you two" he said. "Let's all relax and have some fun!"

They danced together in a pile, almost upon each other on the crowded dance floor. Even Brienne seemed to be able to let go after a while. The DJ played mostly Halloween themed tunes, but he couldn't complain. He only disliked one Halloween song, and that was _This is Halloween._ Not because of the song itself, but because Hot Pie insisted on playing it every single year.

After a while they retreated to a table and Arya went off with Brienne to get them all drinks. When they returned, Gendry couldn't help but admire the way her cheeks flushed in the warmth of the club and what the lights did to her skin, making it glow.

He thanked her for the drink she offered and thankfully took a gulp from it. The icy liquid did wonderful things to his parched throat.

She sat down next to him and gulped down all of her drink in one go. When she noticed him eyeing her she stared at him back with her brows raised.

"What?" she questioned. "I'm thirsty!" Gendry merely shrugged and took another sip from his drink. She nudged his shoulder in response at his expression. "Do you want to dance with me?"

How could he refuse her? So he nodded his head and stood up with her. The two excused themselves and walked out on the dance floor. She put her hands on his shoulders, a bit awkwardly at first but then he relaxed. He in turn placed his hands on her waist and they started to move to the beat of the music. Soon their hands were clutched instead as they spun each other around and twisted in weird positions.

Eventually, when the song slowed down Arya opted for letting one arm rest around his shoulder and the other one lay against his chest. Gendry tried to not let the feeling of how right it felt consume him. He shouldn't do this.

"Where's the eye patch?" Arya suddenly questioned, bringing him out of his thoughts.

"What?" he asked, looking down at her grey eyes.

"You're dressed as a pirate. Where's the eye patch?"

"Oh." He chuckled. "I thought that might look a bit dorky…"

Arya laughed at his comment. "And you didn't think dressing as a pirate in the first place was dorky?"

Gendry felt the slight blush creep up on his cheeks. Thankfully it wouldn't be seen due to the dim light in the club. He shrugged. Arya smirked at him and let her head rest against his chest for a moment.

"I've had a great time tonight…"

He wasn't sure where that comment came from, but for some reason he was happy she said it. Gendry felt all warm inside. That was an often occurrence when he was around Arya. And it was dangerous. _Very_ dangerous.

 **Leave a comment and let me know what you think! I'll see you soon!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Haha, hi again! Two chapters in one day! Yay! This one is a little shorter than the ones I usually write… But here it is nonetheless.**

Chapter 12

Arya hummed the tune of a song as she walked the route to the gym. She had gotten a gym card a while ago and she wanted some variation to her normal work out which consisted of fencing class and occasional runs. So lifting some weight was the answer. If it hadn't been for Gendry, it wouldn't have happened. He was the one who told her how to find her way there.

She looked up into the sky. Despite the fact that it was now December – the last day before Christmas break started, not a flake of snow had appeared. King's Landing was to blame for that… The closest thing they got were some rain every now and again.

Fucking hell, she missed snow! She missed the cold, the wind and the way the snow gathered in her hair as she walked outside. She even missed the way Sansa always complained about the snow in the hair part. Was that normal?

The sky was grey and boring. It was as if it was still autumn, despite that it was technically winter. More and more people had started to put up lights in their windows and lights coated most of the city.

Christmas is coming, Arya thought smugly to herself, altering the Stark words.

Inside the gym, it was hot however. And it smelled like sweat. Then again, all gyms do. She left her stuff in a locker and proceeded to make her way into the actual gym.

As soon as she walked inside, she was stunned. Some poor soul had to almost shove her to be able to walk inside.

 _He_ was there.

There was no actual proof it was him, since he hadn't seen his face yet. But Arya had studied those rippling back muscles enough times to know who it was. He wore a grey singlet, completely drenched in sweat. She felt the heat ignite inside her and the tingling sensation in her core. Cue the lady boner, everybody!

When he turned around she swiftly diverted and went for the treadmills. This way he wouldn't be able to see her as easily. Arya needed time to deal with her arousal before she went over to make her presence known.

Gendry put the weight back before sitting down on a training machine. He adjusted it for him and started working it. Arya groaned slightly as she saw the muscles in his arms flex. Fuck!

Her breath was already labored so to everyone else it would look like she had a worse physic than a ninety year old grandma, but she knew the truth. They didn't know she was drenched in arousal.

 _Keep your eyes off him! Just keep your eyes away! Focus on the pedometer, or whatever!_

"Arya?"

 _Shit!_ Gendry stood with his neck craned to get a better look at her. His voice was a little louder than necessary to drown out the noise of the rock music playing and the occasional grunt from the other people there.

"Uh, hi" Arya breathed. _Fucking shit, just get your body under control!_ _You can do this!_

"You're working out as well?"

"Apparently!"

Gendry smiled. "Keep me company!"

"Uh…" Divert! Divert! "Just give me a couple of minutes to warm up!"

Gendry pushed the damp hair from his forehead and nodded.

She used those extra minutes to only halfheartedly warm up and wholeheartedly try to control her urge to run down and impale herself with his cock in front of everybody. The way his drenched singlet clung to his body and the way he let out a deep breath every time he flexed his god damned muscles didn't exactly help.

Deciding that she couldn't delay herself any longer, Arya turned off the treadmill and stepped down. She took a deep breath and then walked over to where Gendry pumped his abs.

"Your abs seems to be getting a good workout" she commented without thinking. What the hell was that?

Gendry laughed awkwardly and again pushed the hair from his forehead. "I suppose…"

Arya laughed as well, mostly just because she felt like she had to. Then she walked over to the nearest machine and adjusted it to what she was able to lift and started working it. Her cleavage increased and decreased with every movement she made on the machine. She felt Gendry eye her, and she didn't have to guess where his eyes were planted.

The sensible part of her brain wanted to pull the neckband higher up to conceal herself. But she kind of liked having Gendry look at her. It felt good to know that he was eye fucking her as much as she did him.

But it didn't really help with her arousal problems. He kept looking at her and she knew she needed to talk about something to distract him, and something that could make her hot and wet cunt go back to normal.

 _Got it! Leechy!_

"Where's your girlfriend?" Arya asked. She tried to not sound too hateful.

The only thing she got in response was a shrug. However she did notice that the easy look on Gendry's face had disappeared and been replaced with a thin line for a mouth.

"You don't work out together?" That sounded more like an insult than she had originally intended.

He gave her a shrug again. "Not really… She's more of a-" and he raised his voice to a high pitch "- _Gennie, I'm going to stop eating for week and see if I lose five pounds_ , kind of girl…"

Arya snorted. "I could have guessed that. And also… _Gennie_?"

Gendry flushed a scarlet red and nodded. "She insists on calling me that." Arya seemed to be out of insults at the moment and just shook her head.

"Where does she go to school?" Honestly, she didn't want to know. But like she had established before, when she was annoyed she had a hard time being aroused.

"She doesn't go to college." A short, precise answer…

"So what does she do all day? Sit around on her ass?"

"Almost. She works nights."

Arya could only guess where this was going. Nowhere good… The only decent job for a twenty year old she could think of that required night hours was a gas station or a café open twenty-four-seven. And she couldn't see Bella in a frumpy jumpsuit or pouring overworked men and women acute coffee all night. "As what?"

"A stripper" Gendry sighed. It was like he had a hard time admitting it.

Arya couldn't help but laugh, though it was without any form of happiness. "Sounds like her!" Both she and Gendry were quiet as Arya got her shit together. "I guess you met her at the strip club she works at…"

Gendry got from the machine he had been working and towered over her in his full height, suddenly defensive. "Actually I did!"

She scoffed and shook her head. "Didn't see you as the type that goes to strip clubs, and I doubt Hot Pie or Lommy brought you there as they both prefer the company of men."

"I'm not! But some other friends I have that live in the Riverlands wanted to go so I came along for the ride. I'm twenty two years old, Arya, and not frigid!"

Arya got up from her machine as well, though her gesture wasn't as impressive as Gendry's. She was too short. "I never said you were frigid! I heard you fuck your little leech all night after that fucking party!"

"She's not a leech!" They had both raised their voices, but Arya didn't care.

"She seems like one!"

"Arya!" Gendry took a deep breath to calm himself. His face was flushed, from embarrassment, anger or warmth from the work out, she didn't know. "Don't go there!"

Arya scoffed and put her hands on her sides. "Why not? We're already there!"

"Because if you do, then I'll have to defend her!"

"And why shouldn't you? You're her fucking boyfriend, you stupid bull!" Then she understood. Arya laughed again, which only made Gendry angrier. "You don't want to defend her, do you? Oh my fucking god! Why are you even with her if you can't even defend her?"

Gendry stepped in closer and leaned down closer to her face. Arya suddenly noticed how quiet the gym had gotten. Almost everyone was either openly following their argument or pretending to still work out but was actually following their argument.

"I told you to not fucking go there…" Gendry seethed. His was voice deadly quiet. Arya would be lying if she said it didn't scare her in the least, but she wasn't about to let him win this. She wanted answers.

"Why are you with her, Gendry? It's obvious that you don't love her! Why be the grade A asshole when you don't have to be?"

"It's complicated!" he shouted.

"Complicated how? Tell me! I want to know!"

"It's none of your fucking business, Arya!" Gendry screamed in her face.

Arya huffed and pursed her lips. She felt the tears sting her eyes but she refused to let them fall. "Fine" she whispered and stepped away. She turned to go. All eyes were on her, which made her feel like she had to have an exit line. Arya turned back and faced his bull like feature and shot him daggers with her eyes. "I'm sorry for caring about you!"

She stormed out, and the people moved out of her way without having to say anything. Stupid, fucking, retarded, asshole bull!

 **Well, well, well… This didn't exactly go in the right direction, did it? Will they be able to mend it? You'll just have to wait and see… Love you all!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hi, guys! So I have been away for a little while, but now I'm back with another chapter! Enjoy!**

Chapter 13

The next morning, Arya woke up with a feeling of sadness. At first she couldn't remember why, and then it all came flying back.

After her fight with Gendry she had stormed out of the gym and literally ran all the way back to the apartment. She had taken a quick shower and then hid in her room for the rest of the day. Gendry hadn't tried to approach her as far as Arya was aware. Maybe that was for the best… They both needed time to cool off.

Gendry had probably already spoken to Hot Pie about what happened. She didn't look forward to having to face both of them. The look on their faces would be unbearable. Arya was aware that she was as much to blame for this Arya as Gendry was. She had pushed him, and he didn't want to talk. On the other hand he had practically admitted to being an asshole to both Bella and himself by staying with her when he didn't need to.

It was all so fucked up.

She didn't want to see Gendry look at her with those angry and sad eyes again, and she didn't want Gendry to see the look of guilt in her face. But most of all she didn't want Gendry to tell her they needed to talk, and then try to mend it.

So instead Arya spent the majority of the morning ignoring everyone else and watching _Disney_ films on her phone to cheer herself up. She had just gotten to the part where Timon and Pumbaa awkwardly sing _Can you feel the love tonight_ when she heard and felt her stomach growl loudly. Maybe brunch was a good idea…

When she opened the door she was faced with an explosion of red and green lights. The entire living room was decorated with lights, Santas, reindeers and a quite impressive ginger bread house. Hot Pie's doing without a doubt. Arya remembered that not only was it Saturday, but it was the first day of Christmas break as well.

"This was Hot Pie's farewell present" Gendry's deep voice announced. He sat on the couch, looking at his phone. The look he gave her wasn't angry, nor was it sad. It was more like he desperately tried to pretend the fight never happened. Arya wasn't sure whether that was good or not. "He just left to spend the break with his sister. We both thought you were asleep and didn't want to wake you."

Arya nodded slowly yet didn't say anything. She walked out of the living room and into the kitchen to make some toast. The sound of Gendry's steps annoyed her. _Here we go…_

"Are you still angry with me?" he asked.

Arya didn't answer at first, taking as much time as she could to prepare her food. "I try to be" she then answered without looking at him.

A small smile played on Gendry's lips. "But you're not really, are you?"

"Look." Arya put down the butter knife. "I'm naturally resentful, so I think it's expected of me to still be angry with you."

"I'm not the only one to blame here!"

"I know…" She refused to look at him. More now when she expected that look of anger and annoyance was returning.

"You're too proud for your own good." Gendry's calm tone was back, but he was trying hard to keep it.

"I know." She put the butter back in the fridge and turned to grab her plate and walk out. Only to find Gendry blocking her way. "Move."

"No" he simply answered.

"Move!" Arya tried to walk around him but he was too quick. She tried the other way, but he blocked that way as well. "Gendry! Out of my way!"

Gendry sighed and did as she asked and side stepped to let her past. His eyes were bored into her neck and Arya felt it all the way until she closed her bedroom door behind her.

After her brunch, Arya continued to watch some more _Disney_ movies and check her _Instagram_. Eventually she changed out of her pajamas and into a pair of jeans and a black singlet. Her hair was still wavy from her shower the day before she let it be.

Around five Gendry knocked on her door without entering. He told her he couldn't be bothered to cook at the moment and didn't want to force her into it since he knew she hated cooking. They agreed on ordering pizza. Gendry made the call, Arya was still in her bed.

They ate in silence. Neither of them said a word to one another. Arya because she didn't want to, and she suspected Gendry didn't want to break the temporary peace between them.

Gendry took it upon himself to do the dishes, again in silence. And Arya wiped off the table where a lot of fat had dripped down the slices.

"Arya, we really need to talk about this" Gendry said quietly when they were done.

"Well I don't want to" Arya spat and tried to dodge him once more to flee to her room.

She made it to the corridor like space with all of their rooms before Gendry grabbed her arm and forced her to turn around and look at him. He looked at her with and intense stare, Arya yanked her arm free and stepped back a couple of paces to put some space between them.

"There's nothing to talk about" she spat.

"I think there is" Gendry spat right back. "You wanted answers, so here they are. You're right, I never loved Bella, I still don't." Arya snorted. "When I met her, I was sexually frustrated and she was clearly interested. It may not sound like the most romantic relationship and it isn't. It's mostly just sex, but she refuses to let me go. Don't think I haven't tried, but she's more stubborn than I am!"

"That's-"

"I'm not finished, Arya" Gendry interrupted her. "I wanted to break up with her for a while, but then decided to just stick with her. Until I met someone…"

That last line almost made her breath hitch. He met someone? Who? Another girl without a doubt. He probably didn't see her as anything but his annoying roommate. She didn't want to know who it was.

"I met someone who made me feel things I've never felt before, and I don't want to stop feeling them. But I have to, because I can't break up with Bella. So the only way to stop it was to act like complete bastard towards her." _Wait a minute!_ "And I did, until she confronted me about it during awkward circumstances. Now we're friends, but I want so much more when I shouldn't."

"But…" was all Arya managed to get out. Had he just admitted feelings towards her? And if that was the case, why wasn't she happy about it? Why did she feel anything but happy? It was no secret how much she liked him, so why this reaction. "You..?"

"Yes." Gendry watched her with soft eyes. He looked relieved but at the same time vigilant.

"But you're still with her! I can't even- Oh my god! Why?"

"Why I like you?" He rubbed the back of his head.

"No! Why it's all so complicated. I can't if-" But then she suddenly stopped talking. She watched him for a moment. Gendry looked like a bull ready to pounce, and she was quite sure she looked the same way. "You know what? Fuck this!"

Her body acted on its own when she closed in on the few paces between them and roughly pulled his head down to her height. His lips crashed against hers and they seemed to mold against each other. Gendry quickly wrapped one arm tightly around her waist and his other hand tangled in her hair.

Their tongues met at the same time. Arya let out a moan as he tightened his grip on her and their tongues battled for dominance. Gendry grunted and released her momentarily and then picked her up by the thighs. Arya quickly wrapped her legs around his waist.

Somehow Gendry managed to maneuver them into his room where he kicked the door shut and pressed her up against it.

What the hell was she doing? This was wrong, so wrong. But it felt so right. She wanted Gendry devour her like he did now. She loved the feeling of his moist lips pressing against hers and his hard, rippled body holding her up. The guilt could be dealt with tomorrow, for now she would give in to her desires.

A whimper of loss was spilled from Arya's lips as Gendry pulled back. His eyes were black with desire and his lips red and plump. He looked unsurely at her, as if asking for permission. The question was answered with a small, encouraging smile from Arya's side.

Gendry took that as his cue to continue. He dipped his head to the side and started pressing kisses along her jaw line and down to her neck. She moaned as he licked, nipped and kissed her pulse point. A spark of heat and moisture worked its way down between her legs. He continued his way up until he reached the small nook behind her ear, he continued his assault there.

Arya's hands grabbed at the ends of his hair and pulled slightly. "Gendry" she breathed. His name was both a prayer and a curse. She pulled harder at his hair, making him stop and looked at her. They looked at each other for a split second before Arya started returning the favor and kissed her way down his stubbled jaw. Gendry groaned. She felt his growing arousal against her.

He took a stronger grip on her butt cheeks and walked her over to his bed. She was gently put down and Gendry cradled her head as he placed his back against the pillows. He sat up and pulled his t-shirt over his head. Arya watched in awe, his rippled arms and abs on full display.

Then she turned them around so she could straddle him as she pulled her own upper garment away. Gendry sat up and looked into her eyes and reached behind her to unclasp her bra. It fell easily from her and she was left as bare as he was. He smiled and leaned in to kiss along her collarbone before dipping down and taking one of her nipple into her mouth.

Arya moaned loudly as he bit down on one and rolled the other between his fingers. She felt the heat and moisture down there. Her clit and womanhood throbbed simultaneously.

Gendry turned them around again and pressed her against the bed as he continued to knead and kiss her breasts. Her body was on fire and all she wanted was for Gendry to never stop what he did.

His fingers gently traced a line between her breasts and down along her stomach. Soon his mouth followed that line, leaving gooseflesh in his wake. Arya's back arched in delight. He stopped when he reached her button on her jeans.

She helped him undo them and pull them down her legs. Gendry watched her in all her almost naked pride. The smile on his face was reassuring. He pressed feather like kiss onto her underwear before hooking them between his fingers and removing them as well.

"You're so beautiful" he whispered. Arya blushed in response.

Gendry pressed a kiss to her mound, onto the patch of dark hair before letting his mouth come in contact with the area where she desperately wanted it. Arya moaned his name as his mouth closed in on her clit, gently sucking and letting his tongue tease it. He kept on teasing that area for a while before pushing his tongue inside her. Arya almost screamed in delight and her hips rose from the bed. Her hands tightened on his hair

His tongue prodded in and out of her tight hole. Soon two of his delicate fingers joined his movements. They were slow at first but then build up to the point where they frantically pumped in and out. Gendry's mouth had found its way back to her clit and was now again pleasuring the spot.

When he gently bit down on her clit, Arya felt all the built up pleasure explode as wave of wave coursed through her. Arya barely gave him time to wipe his mouth with the back of his hand before she pulled him up for a hard kiss. She could taste herself on his lips and tongue, and didn't expect it to be as arousing as it was.

Arya swiftly changed their positions again. She gave him a peck on the lips before starting to prep kisses down his torso, over his nipples before letting her tongue swirl over his perfectly sculpted abs. Gendry leaned his head back against the pillows and panted as her mouth made its way lower and lower. Arya could feel his hand tangle in her brown locks.

She stopped when she reached below his belly button. Gendry's encouraging smile was all she needed to unbuckle his belt and pull his pants down. She was met by the impressive sight of the bulge in his boxers, his erection fighting to get free. For a moment she just took in the sight, it was slightly overwhelming to know that she had caused that.

Gendry lifted his hips of the bed to help Arya as she pulled down his boxers. His cock jutted out with pride, he was bigger than she expected. Then again, her past relations hadn't been that well endowed. She reached out a careful hand to stroke him. Her eyes were fixed on the task at hand, but she could hear Gendry's groan. Pre-cum pooled at the tip and she used her thumb to spread the liquid. The skin on his throbbing member was soft, like silk.

Her movements became faster along with Gendry's sounds of pleasure. His breath became more and more uneven, which only spurred Arya on. Soon her mouth closed in on the tip.

"Fuck" Gendry moaned. Arya couldn't help but smile smugly before returning to taking her turn to pleasure him. She sucked hard on his tip before bobbing her head up and down, using her hand for leverage. Another deep moan left Gendry's mouth as she used her other hand to fondle his balls. He smelled and tasted musky, but she liked it. It tasted masculine.

Suddenly Gendry grabbed her by her shoulders and pulled her up to face him. He gave her a hard kiss before staring into her liquid silver eyes. Arya understood the silent message he tried to give her, _not yet_.

Arya sat up, straddling his lap. The heat had returned to her sex and she wanted nothing more than to feel Gendry inside of her. He reached up one to cup her breast. It felt so right. His other hand cupped her face and Gendry pulled her down, whilst the other hand continued to message her breast.

"You are so amazing" he whispered quietly, leaning in to smell her.

"You're not so bad yourself, you know" Arya teased back.

Their lips met in a kiss that was much slower and gentler than the ones they had previously shared. Her tongue explored the inside of his mouth, all whilst Gendry messaged her.

It was Arya who broke the kiss and sat back up. Her heart pounded fast and hard in her chest, her whole body trembled in anticipation for what was to come. She raised her hips and used her hand to position his arousal at her entrance. Gendry's hands immediately found her hips and started messaging that area as well.

Arya sank down onto him, feeling his hard length fill her up. She threw her head back and gasped, Gendry groaned and his hands tightened on her. Her inner muscles involuntarily tightened around his member and they both groaned at the sensation.

His hands continued to move over her hips and ass as Arya frantically rode him. She grabbed his hands and placed them over her breasts, pressing against her sensitive nipples. Gendry's eyes rolled to the back of his head and let out a moan.

He then lifted her off him and used her temporary confusion to flip them over and snake up between her spread legs. He easily pushed his way inside her. The room was filled with their gasps and moans as Gendry pounded quickly in and out of her, Arya doing her best to match his pace by meeting him thrust for thrust. He buried his face in her neck and started sucking on her earlobe and the spot right under her ear.

The feeling of their slick bodies molding against each other and Gendry sucking on her neck was maddening. She was sure there would be a hickey there in the morning, yet she didn't care. Gendry aligned his face with hers and claimed her lips. The kiss was broken when she felt him move over the sweet spot inside of her.

Arya moaned his name over and over and grabbed at anything within reach to try and control herself. The sheets, his hair, his neck and shoulders. She could feel herself building up to that wonderful edge again. Gendry's movements became more sporadic and the way his brows furrowed in concentration told her he was close was as well.

Gendry slipped his hand between where they were joined and started pressing onto her clit again. The feverish pressing of her clit and the way he frantically moved inside her became her undoing and she felt herself come again, screaming and thrashing around underneath him whilst her fingernails dugs so deep into his skin she was positive she drew blood. Gendry grunted her name loudly and Arya felt him spill his warm seed inside her. She was given a sweet kiss on the lips, her nose and then on her forehead.

He pulled out and scooted over to spoon her. His arm snaked around her waist and pulled her in, his warm and sweaty body rested against hers. Gendry placed soft, lazy kisses along her neck.

Arya had never felt so satisfied before, but the guilt was gnawing at her. A constant reminder of what she had done wrong, namely everything. Soon Gendry's kisses stopped and his breathing steady, indicating that he had fallen asleep.

She should move away, sleep in her own bed, and shame herself for what she had done. But she couldn't. Gendry's arm was protectively around her and Arya loved the feeling of lying next to him. Instead she carefully pulled the blankets over them.

Tomorrow, she told herself. Tomorrow she would deal with everything.

 **Okay, so this is the first time I've written full on smut. It was very hard to write, so please don't be too harsh with me. This story is WAY out of my comfort zone. I'm used to writing sweeter T-rated stuff, but everything is a learning experience, right? With the way I'm planning ahead of this story, without giving anything away, I will have to step out of my comfort zone again, and again. So we'll see how that goes.**

 **I think this is perfectly acceptable smut for it being the first time I've written it, or do you hate it? Let me know by leaving a review!**

 **And just one more thing! I don't condone cheating in any way or sense. These are the character's doings, not mine.**

 **Take care, I love you all!**


	14. Chapter 14

**So here we have chapter 14! I'd just like to take a moment of your time and say thank you to everyone who has supported me through this story! It means so much to me!**

 **Enjoy the chapter!**

Chapter 14

Arya woke to the feeling of a hand weaving in and out of her tousled locks, gently untangling the knots. Something warm and firm was pressed against her. The smell of masculinity engulfed her. Weird, since she was sleeping in her own bed.

But then she remembered that she wasn't sleeping in her own bed, and the warmth pressed against her was Gendry, his hand played with her hair. She stirred, only to find him smiling down at her, propped up on his elbow, leaning his head in his hand.

"Morning…" Gendry said, his voice husky and low.

She remembered what had taken place the night before, and she almost felt nauseous with guilt. "Fuck!" she spat and threw the blanket off her and scrambled out of bed.

"Wait!" Gendry tried to grab her arm but Arya yanked it free and quickly burst out of the room, completely ignoring the fact that she was naked.

How could she have done this? Why had she done this? Okay, _why_ was obvious. Because she had feelings for him and he admitted to feeling the same way, so they ended up in bed. Gods, she felt like such a slut, fucking a guy she knew perfectly well had a girlfriend he 'couldn't' break up with.

"Arya, please! Just hold on a second!" Gendry tried to reason with her but Arya wouldn't have it. He managed to grab, and turn her around. Small tears tainted the corners of her eyes. Gendry cupped her face with both of his hands and crashed his lips against hers.

For a moment all the anger and guilt disappeared as she let Gendry comfort her with the gentle touch of his lips. Then her senses caught up with what was happening and Arya pushed him off her. "Fucking hell, Gendry! You think kissing me can make everything okay?"

"I was only trying to calm you!"

"Well it didn't work!" Her breath was uneven and her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "What we did was wrong! Shit! It was so wrong and you kiss me and think that was a good way to calm me! I can't even handle this!"

Gendry looked surprisingly calm considering the situation that another argument about to break out and the fact that they were as naked as the way they were delivered. "I'm sorry. But hey look, I'm clean if that's what you're worried about!"

Arya scoffed and stepped back. " _For fuck's sake_ , Gendry! I'm not stupid nor naïve. Of course I get that you're clean! I'd like to think that if you had an STD you would tell me about it or at least use a condom! Am I wrong?"

"No" Gendry murmured and looked down on his feet for a moment before facing her again. He looked a little more flushed now. Arya turned and bolted towards her room but Gendry stopped her again. "You can't run from every problem!"

"Let go of me!" Arya wretched her arm free from Gendry's grasp. "Give me some space, at least!"

She disappeared into her room and grabbed the nearest clothes, which probably needed washing but she didn't care, and her phone and practically ran inside her bathroom. If Gendry was still in the living room he didn't try and talk to her.

Arya quickly dialed the number to the one person's voice she desperately wanted to hear. She put on her underwear and balanced the phone between her shoulder and ear. The tones kept on coming but no one answered.

"Come on, Jon!" Arya growled. "Answer the damn phone!"

When all she got in response was his voice mail, Arya hung up with way more force than necessary and threw the phone in the dry sink. She was about to put on the pair of sweat pants she had grabbed when she noticed something else that only added to her guilt.

His cum had seeped down her thighs during the night and had now dried itself to the inside of her them. Great! Exactly what she needed! Another reminder of her adultery. Frustrated, Arya removed her phone from the sink and poured some water in the palm of her hand to wash it away. She rubbed hard and used her nails to scrape away the now sticky substance from her legs. After she had finally removed it, she put her sweat pants on along with the sports bra and loose green t-shirt she had grabbed.

Jon still didn't answer his stupid phone. Damn him!

"Hi, Jon, it's me" Arya said after the beep had sounded. She tried to sound calm and collected like Syrio always taught even though she felt like crying, screaming and cursing all at once. "Look, I know you weren't supposed to come and get me until a few days. But something has happened and I really need to get away from here. Call me when you get this, okay? I love you." She hung up.

Next thing Arya called Brienne, knowing that she would pick up even if she was asleep.

" _Hello?"_ Brienne croaked on the other line.

"Are you awake?" Arya asked.

" _I am now…"_

"Whatever! Look, you haven't left for Tarth yet, right?" Arya tapped her foot repeatedly on the floor as she waited for Brienne's answer.

" _Still in King's Landing. Why?"_

"Good. I need to talk, can you meet me at the breakfast diner?"

" _Yeah, sure…"_

Well at the diner Arya got to rant about what had happened. Brienne sat quiet with a stoic look on her face as Arya told her about the events of last night. Arya told her about her fight with Gendry and what happened after, excluding of course the r-rated parts.

She didn't like what she had done. Obviously she was ashamed of it. But being with him had felt _so_ good, so _right_. Never before had anyone made her feel that good. Arya had had two sexual partners in the past. The first one was Aegon Targaryen, her first and only boyfriend so far. He had been the one she lost her virginity to. The other one was a one night stand with a boy she had met in the Riverlands last year when she and her family had been visiting her dreadful aunt and just as obnoxious son at the Eyrie.

"So as you can see, I've really fucked up" Arya ended her story.

Brienne eyed her for a moment with her head tilted to the side, then sighed slowly. "It's not so bad, Arya" she then said.

"Oh, really?" Arya couldn't believe her ears. This wasn't a big deal? "I'd say it is! I fucked my roommate who I know have a girlfriend. How is this not that bad'?"

"Other have it worse." Arya cocked an eyebrow, expecting an answer. Brienne shrugged. "Well, I'm in love with my gay best friend. That's worse!"

Arya tried not to, but she laughed anyway. Soon Brienne chimed in and laughed with her. Honestly, the situation wasn't funny, but maybe a good laugh was what she needed.

They had just calmed down and Arya had taken a bite of her bacon when her phone rang. She immediately recognized Jon's number. _Finally!_

"Finally, Jon" Arya exclaimed loudly. "Why didn't you answer the fucking phone?"

" _I was asleep!"_ Jon argued. _"Now why do you suddenly need to leave right away?"_

Arya sighed, not sure of how to approach the subject. The last thing she wanted was to tell Jon that she wanted to go home early because she had fucked her roommate and now things were awkward. "It's a little difficult to explain, I just need to go home, please!" Before Jon had a chance to answer, she added something else. "And don't give me the bullshit about not being able to come because I know it's your day off!"

She could hear Jon sigh on the other end. _"If I leave now, I can be there to pick you up later in the afternoon…"_

"Oh, Jon, thank you!" She was truly grateful for her brother's help.

Back at the apartment, Arya heard the sound of the shower in Gendry and Hot Pie's bathroom. _Good…_ Now there wouldn't be a chance for an awkward encounter for at least a while.

She quickly packed what she would need to spend Christmas back at Winterfell. As she would still return in time for New Year's like she originally planned she wouldn't be in the need to pack that much. Arya had a feeling her mom and Sansa would drag her out to by a Christmas dress, as they did every year. Therefore she could always ignore packing formal wear, and for that she was grateful. Sweet, dear mommy Catelyn would throw a tantrum if Arya had gotten any of her fine dresses wrinkly.

After she packed Arya spent the rest of the day wandering around aimlessly on campus and the city. She had no interest in being inside the dorm where she knew Gendry would be and would desperately try and _mend_ things between them.

Around five she got a message from Jon saying that he was close and she should get ready to leave. His car had just pulled in as Arya had made it back.

"Jon!" she cried and threw herself in his arms, barely giving him a chance to exit the vehicle.

"Hey sis" he answered and hugged her tightly back. "How are you doing?"

"Fine… My luggage is upstairs."

"Okay, then let's go and get it. I want to hit the road again as soon as possible since we won't be back until tonight."

Arya led the way up the stairs. On the way up they met Shireen who was in the midst of bringing her own suitcase down the stairs to spend Christmas with her father at Dragonstone and his according to Shireen 'creepy and weird' new girlfriend Melisandre.

Jon was just about to finish a crazy story of how Ygritte somehow mad managed to set their couch on fire using a watch when they entered the apartment.

"Look, Arya no matter how you feel about this we have to-" Gendry stood in the middle of the living room speaking loudly but interrupted himself when he saw the tall, curly haired young man enter behind her. A flash of recognition crossed his eyes. Arya had shown him the picture of her and Jon just a few days ago.

"Feel about what?" Jon questioned with a suspicious look in his stark grey eyes.

 _Shit,_ Arya thought. "Nothing" she quickly said. _Think of a lie, just think of a damn lie!_ "We were only having a discussion about how to spend New Year's eve." It was a weak lie and she knew it. However it would have to do.

"Right…" It was easy to tell from his tone that he didn't believe her. "Are you her roommate?" The question was for Gendry.

Gendry stood taller and held out his hand. Arya could see that he was a bit wary from Jon's piercing eyes, but he took it like the proud, stubborn man that he was. "One of two" Gendry answered. Jon took his hand. It looked like he was testing him by seeing how hard of a handshake Gendry could handle. "Gendry."

"Jon." The eyed each other before releasing their hands. "I'm her older brother." He put emphasize on the words 'older brother'.

"Yeah, I know." Gendry tried a small smile, which Jon almost didn't return.

"Okay!" Arya said loud and slow, interrupting their staring match. "Jon, didn't you say something about wanting to hit the road as soon as possible? I'm going to get my suitcase."

Both Gendry and Jon were leaning against a wall each in an awkward silence when Arya exited her room. Gendry gave her a relieved look when she entered the living room.

"Have a good Christmas" Gendry said as they were about to leave.

Arya turned around so that Jon couldn't see that her smile was stiff and forced. "Yeah, you too."

The ride was relatively uneventful. Around seven they stopped at a McDonalds to grab some dinner before continuing. Jon tried to pry about what Gendry had meant a couple of times. Arya quickly changed the subject every time. This was the last thing Jon needed to know, he would lose his shit.

For a while she had been feeling uncomfortable down there. It stung, and felt sticky. She had a pretty good idea what it was about, but that was another thing she wouldn't share with her brother.

"Hey, Jon?"

"Yeah?" Jon answered, not taking his eyes off the road.

"Can we stop at the nearest gas station? I really have to go to the bathroom."

Jon shot her a suspicious glare, probably remembering that she had been to the bathroom when they stopped at McDonalds. "Sure…"

Fifteen minutes later they came across a station and Arya grabbed her simple black purse and walked inside to locate the bathroom.

She never liked public bathrooms. The stalls were always so disgusting and it always smelled like piss. Also public bathrooms are always out of soap and that she found extremely annoying.

When she had safely locked herself inside one of the stalls she sat down on the toilet and removed her panties. Yep… There it was. The mean red splotch right there on her underwear, good thing she always had emergency pads and tampons in her purse.

This was probably a good thing… At least now she could eliminate another unwanted side effect. Guilt was the only one left now…

 **So let's see how the aftermath plays out, shall we? The next chapter is on its way! Give me a review of all your opinions!**

 **See ya soon my little lovelies!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hi, lovelies! Back with another chapter! Enjoy!**

Chapter 15

Gendry sighed as he leaned back, resting the back of his head on the neck rest of the couch. He had basically left the dorm an hour after Arya fled with her older brother. The sounds of his mom preparing lunch in the kitchen could be heard and he found it to be strangely comforting. It reminded him of when he was young and carefree. Before the complications of girls haunted him.

He checked his phone once more. Arya still hadn't answered, and Gendry wasn't surprised. It wasn't as if he expected her to. She had hurt him, he couldn't deny that. But he still wanted- no he _needed_ to talk to her.

They had both put their feelings out and Gendry had never felt happier when it led to more than he originally thought. In the past, he had had his share of women, but none of them could compare. Arya had something none of them had. And she threw it all in his face by once again running from a problem they easily could have solved together.

"Who are you always texting?"

Gendry looked up to see his mom standing in the doorway between the kitchen and living room. Mina Waters had always been a curious woman when it came to her son's social circle.

"No one" Gendry immediately answered and put down his phone.

His mom's eyes sparkled. "Is it a girl?" She had a sly smile playing on his lips. Gendry had made sure she didn't know about Bella or any other girl, and he fully intended on keeping that way. Until he found a girl he loved enough to take her to meet his mom. He hoped Arya could be that girl…one day.

"It's just a friend…"

His mom nodded absentmindedly. "By the way" she then added. "How is the new roommate?"

"Uh…" Gendry felt the tips of his ears turn warm and red. He just hoped his shaggy black hair would conceal it. "Yeah, she's alright."

"What's her name?"

Did she have to be curious about _everything_? "Arya… Why?"

"Just wondering." The timer started beeping and Mina went back inside the kitchen, but not before ordering him to set the table.

Gendry just hoped that spending some time at home could take his mind off everything the dating world had to offer. For now…

XXX

A selfish bitch.

That's what she was.

Arya didn't even have the decency to deny it. She was well aware of who had been the responsible and mature one, and it wasn't her. Gendry had been calm, collected and tried to reason with her. He had tried to make her see that it wasn't the end of the world. They had feelings for each other and they acted upon them. It was that simple.

Yet the fact that Gendry was still with Bella shook her. Way too many times she had seen Sansa and Sansa's friends deal with the whole 'liking a guy who already dated someone' thing. And she couldn't handle that rollercoaster. Every time her sister had tried, it always ended badly. Arya didn't want to be the victim of that.

And she hated herself for it.

In the beginning it had all seemed so simple. She liked Gendry, and obviously wanted to act upon it. But she had imagined that she and Gendry would simply talk about it, and then he would break up with the little leech. _Then_ she and Gendry would start something together. What she hadn't imagined was them fucking on a whim because neither of them could keep it in their pants. It was just to god damned fucked up.

"Jon?"

Jon looked up to see his sister peaking her head through the door. "What?" he asked.

"Make a snowman with me?"

"What?" He looked confused.

"It's just… I mean we always did that when we were younger, and I sort of need that right now."

Jon nodded, but didn't ask any questions. Arya was grateful.

XXX

"Arya just try it on!" Sansa pleaded. Arya had her head peaking out of the curtain that acted as a door of her fitting room. Her face screwed into a grimace of disgust as her older sister waved a dreadful sparkly dress in her face.

"No! Arya spat. She had - as she expected – been dragged to the nearest mall by her annoying mother and daughter clone to buy a freaking Christmas dress. "I don't want to wear a dress! And fuck anything sparkly!"

"Arya!" her mom shrieked. "Language!"

"Whatever!" Arya took a deep breath and turned back to her sister with the face and voice of someone who explained to an oversensitive kid that they can't eat candy before dinner. "You _might_ be able to force me into a dress, but not a sparkly one." Sansa sighed. "Can't I just wear the one _I_ picked out?"

"Arya you're not wearing a black dress!" Sansa breathed as if her younger sister had lost her mind.

"Why not?"

"Black is a sad color, and Christmas is a happy tradition. Can't you wear a red dress?"

"Yeah, sure!" Arya scoffed. "Because you and mom plus everyone else in this world aren't going to wear a red dress!"

"Actually, I'm going to wear a green dress" Sansa countered.

"Whatever! It's the black dress or nothing!"

"Arya, please honey" Catelyn said quietly.

"Please what? Shouldn't you be glad I'm wearing a dress for your sake rather than arguing with me on which color it should have?"

Arya watched her mother and sister exchange an entire conversation completely made of facial expressions and sighs. Finally they caved and let her wear the black dress. It was very simple, and that was the only reason she could imagine wearing it, just to get the other more girly female specimens of the family to shut up.

It was knee length and formfitting, with broad straps and a square neckline. She felt good in it. The dress did a pretty good job at accentuating the small curves she did have. With some products in her hair and makeup on her face, hopefully they would leave her alone.

XXX

Arya was lying on her bed, rereading all the messages Gendry had sent for what felt like the hundredth time. She counted to three missed calls (all missed on purpose) and eight texts. They were all two days old, he seemed to have just given up.

 _Arya? Please we need to talk…_

 _Look, what we did, it's okay._

 _Just talk to me!_

 _Arya! I know you're there!_

 _PICK UP THE FUCKING PHONE!_

 _We need to talk about this!_

 _Stop running from you're problems! You're being so damn selfish right now!_

 _Fine! Keep ignoring me!_

She felt the sting of guilt hit her harder at that last one as it indicated he was giving up. The last thing she wanted was to lose him, and yet she was. Just because Arya was too much of a stupid coward to call him. She wanted to mend it, to be friends and get over this, but she wasn't sure that was a possibility anymore.

"I'm sorry…" she whispered.

There was knock on the door. Rickon's voice floated through.

" _Arya?"_

"What?" Arya questioned.

Rickon opened the door and leaned against the doorframe with his gym back slung over his shoulder. "I need a ride to soccer practice."

"Get lost, I'm busy!" Arya turned so her back was facing her little brother.

"Oh please!" Rickon scoffed and sat down on the bed behind her. "I know you're not busy! You're on your phone. And you're the only one available." They were quiet for a minute and Arya made sure to exit the conversation with Gendry so Rickon would remain clueless. "What are you moping about anyway? A guy?" So much for clueless…

"I'm not moping, Rickon!" Arya spat and turned to face the red haired urchin.

Rickon merely quirked an eyebrow at her and snorted. "Let's look at it, shall we? One, you spend every waking hour in here unless someone drags you out. Two, you never play football or videogames or anything with me or Bran. Three, you _actually_ conceded to wear a dress tomorrow. Four, you have those sad puppy eyes all the girls in my class have whenever they talk about the guys they like. Simple math, Ar. You're moping."

"When the hell did you turn into Bran?" Rickon shrugged. Arya sighed and sat up. She wasn't quite sure if Rickon was annoyed at her or the situation, but she didn't care. No matter how he would feel about it, Arya drew her brother in for a hug.

What surprised Arya was that Rickon actually hugged her back and rubbed small circles on her shoulder, like their dad always did when she or her siblings were sad. "Whoever it is and what's going on, it'll be alright…"

Arya managed a small smile. "Ricky, you know I love you, right?"

"Whatever, Sappy Face" Rickon responded when he pulled away. "Now move you're lazy ass and drive me to practice!"

Sixteen year old brothers…

XXX

Christmas day arrived and as Arya expected, it was a quite dull affair. Don't get her wrong! She loved Christmas and everything that came with it. The food, the presents, the mood, her and Jon's competitions on who could down the most turkey…

It was just the fact that with everything going on, she had trouble fully enjoying it. Jon was there, constantly by her side, which Arya found both annoying and comforting.

Jon was always welcome at Christmas, and Ygritte came with him – and she actually managed to be civil. Her dad had been the one to state that his son was always invited. Catelyn and Jon seemed to have a quiet agreement to never speak about it or with each other, all for the sake of keeping peace. He was never included in such things as family pictures, public outings or dinners. But Ned had raged when his wife had so much as considered the idea of Jon not being present at Christmas.

Arya hadn't even bothered to feel sorry for her mom as dad shouted at her, that argument was long overdue.

XXX

When Arya carried her Christmas presents up to her room that night, she made a decision. She would make things alright between her and Gendry again.

 **Leave a review! See you soon!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Hi lovelies! So I'm back. Sorry for having been away for a while. I've had ton of shit to do, but here is the latest chapter.**

 **And in other news, I've managed to sprain my wrist. So right now writing is quite painful. Therefore we'll see how fast I can get another chapter out!**

 **Enjoy this chapter though!**

Chapter 16

" _Train number 187 for King's Landing station leaves from track 4 in five minutes."_

The robotic voice sounded loud over all the chatter in Wintertown station. Arya rose from her seat, and her dad and Jon with her, Jon carrying her bag.

"Are you sure you don't want me or Jon driving you?" Ned asked for what felt like the hundredth time.

"No" Arya responded. It was the same reply as every time one of them asked. "The train is faster, and I don't mind being cramped with other passengers, unlike Sansa."

Jon chuckled and they started criss-crossing through the other people there. Ned managed to make a corridor like path for Arya and Jon to walk through.

The number of people almost knocking each other over to get a good seat before the other was enormous. Arya heard Ned sigh, and steel himself for another episode of pushing people aside. She sighed in return, she didn't really mind being the one pushing her own way through if she could have.

"You still won't tell me why you wanted to get back here early" Jon whispered after having leaned down to speak quietly with his sister.

"And nor will I" Arya replied simply. She gave Jon a quick kiss on the cheek and took her bag from him. "It's nothing to worry about Jon. I'm going to make it alright again."

"I hope so."

She shared a quick embrace with both Jon and her dad before waving quickly and entering the train. Inside, she located an empty seat and pushed her bag under the chair before sitting down.

So far she was alone in her two-seater. Even though Arya expected this wouldn't last considering the large amount of people traveling today, she hoped it would. With her headphones plugged in and the music playing loud she leaned back and waited for the trip to start.

XXX

" _Ladies and Gentlemen. We arrive in King's Landing in ten minutes. Please make sure to check your seats for items you might have forgotten. We hope you have had a pleasant trip."_

Arya had already packed what little she had unpacked from her bag and checked her seat. Three times. To say that she was nervous for how this would play out was an understatement. She was freaked out over how this would go. If it went bad, what the hell was she supposed to do?

She had tried to call Gendry several times, but he hadn't answered. Arya suspected that this was his form of a small revenge, not answering. Because during the few conversations she had had with Gendry over the phone during her time at college, he had been answering quickly every time.

What if we wouldn't forgive her? What if he hated her now? What if, what if, what if… All the thoughts swirled around in her head, making her slightly dizzy. The bus ride to the dorms was quick and soon she found herself outside the apartment building.

"Arya! You're back!"

Arya turned around to see Shireen come running towards her, looking as if she had arrived back herself. "Hi, Shireen!" She was embraced by her blond friend quickly. "How are you?"

"Great! How are you?"

"Fine. See you later, I want to get my bag upstairs."

"Off course. See you!"

The voices of Hot Pie and Lommy could be heard clearly when Arya entered the apartment. They sat in front of the TV, munching on what looked like left over cake. Lommy turned around when he heard the shuffling of Arya's footsteps.

"Hey!" Lommy exclaimed. "Look who's back! How was Winterfell?"

"Cold" Arya replied as she took off her jacket. "Where's Gendry?"

At that moment Hot Pie turned around and Arya was surprised to see the pained expression on his face. "About that, Arya- He's… It's just-"

"Oh stop making everything so complicated, Hot Pie!" Lommy said, interrupting him. "He's at work, you know, Tobho Mott's Garage?"

Arya nodded slowly. "Right. I'm just going to put my things away and go to the bathroom then I'm out again." Lommy nodded encouragingly, however Hot Pie merely pursed his lips. What was his problem?

She threw her bag on her bed and then locked herself into her bathroom. Just as she was about to sit down on the toilet, Arya heard voices.

" _Why did you tell her where he was?"_ Hot Pie hissed, obviously trying to be quiet but failing as Arya heard every word.

" _Because they need to start talking again"_ Lommy answered calmly.

" _But you know how he is right now. I don't want her to- Oh, I don't even know. It's so fucked up!"_

" _I do know, but if they don't start talking now, it will be even more fucked up."_

" _Lommy, it's_ their _business!"_

" _And that is why I'm not budding in, only pointing her in the right direction for happiness."_

Arya drowned out the rest of their conversation with humming after that. She didn't want to hear more. Why was Hot Pie so against her? It seemed as if Lommy was the only one on her side again. Except for maybe Brienne, but she wasn't back yet.

Before exiting the apartment, she gave them both an easy smile so none of them thought she had heard their conversation. How much did they know? What had Gendry told them?

She stopped quickly at Starbucks on her way over to the garage to buy a peace offering in the form of coffee. No matter if Gendry would be happy about it nor not, it was at least a thought…

Tobho Mott's car garage looked like one of the few garages what was more exclusive. Most of them were dirty even on the outside, scattered with old tires. But this one was all clean outside, not a smudge of car grease on the walls. Inside was pretty clean as well. Of course the floors were a bit dirty due to all the cars that were being repaired, but it was all right, not that she would mind even if it was a dump.

A couple of dirty mechanics were talking in a corner whilst some other worked underneath a car. Arya searched for that messy mop of black hair amongst the jumpsuit wearing men. Finally she saw it as Gendry appeared as the one man underneath a car. He was dirty and with oil all over. Arya was surprised at how arousing the sight was.

She was about to call his name when _she_ came into view. Bella appeared from out of nowhere, with her perfect hair and perfect body looking so out of place. She even had a face that clearly said this was one of the most disgusting places she had ever been to.

"Gennie" she whined. "Are you done soon? You promised you would drive me home!"

 _Well, you little bitch, if you don't like it then fuck off!_

From Gendry's exasperated sigh Arya could tell this wasn't the first time she had asked. " _I will!_ " he groaned. "If you could just muster enough patience you let me finish this car. Then my shift is over."

Arya sure as hell wasn't about to make peace with him when the little leech was in the same building. Fuck this.

She swiftly turned before anyone could see her and fled the scene. The coffee she had been bearing was dumped in the nearest garbage bin before Arya stomped off to the nearest bus stop and waited.

Music at a dangerously high volume always helped.

But when a man who was clearly a drug addict started to approach her, she decided to just walk back to the apartment. Maybe the walk could help her vent all her annoyance before talking to Gendry and not let it get in her way. Because she would talk to him, but not when Bella was near. She wanted them to be alone.

Hot Pie and Lommy had left a note, telling her that they had gone out for dinner on the door of her room. She smiled bitterly to herself. At least some people's love life worked out. After discarding the note she spent the rest of the day watching shit movies on her phone.

Arya had just finished the frozen pizza she had warmed when she heard the locks turning and Gendry muttering something to himself. Then the sounds of him locking himself in the bathroom and the shower turning on.

She would give him what time he needed in the shower before storming his privacy to make peace. Wow… That sounded really contradictory in her mind. After about twenty minutes she heard him unlocking the bathroom door.

Thankfully, he was fully clothed this time, his abs would have been a distraction. "Gendry?" she choked out. Gendry turned around and she noticed his body tense somewhat.

"Hi…" he whispered.

"Can you come in here for a minute? I want to talk."

Arya bit her lip as Gendry nodded and slowly walked towards her. She wanted to hug him, but wasn't sure if she should.

"Okay" Arya exhaled as a start after closing the door behind him. Why she closed the door, she wasn't sure. They were the only ones in the apartment after all. "I'm not sure where to start so I'm just going to jump right in."

Gendry had placed himself close to the door, putting as much distance between them as he could and his jaw was clenched. Not a good sign. "Go on then" was the only thing he said.

"Gendry, I'm sorry for not responding to your texts or calls, for the way I reacted after we…you know, and for acting like a cowardice little bitch but I-"

Gendry held up a hand to stop her. "Don't say anything else. I won't be able say what I have to if you do…" Okay, another bad sign. "Listen, I get why you reacted the way you did, but you still hurt me. Pretty bad."

"I know! And that's why I-"

"Shut up and listen, would you?" he interrupted her again. "Like I said, you hurt me. I think we both have established pretty clearly that we feel something for each other. But both of us are very confused right now, on a number of things."

"What are you saying?" That came out a lot lower than she would have wanted to. She wanted to scream.

"I'm saying that we should stay out of each other's way. Just for a little while" he assured her. "Just long enough for us to wrap our heads around what we really feel. I'm sorry. Oh. And if you are worried about Hot Pie and Lommy, they only know we had a fight. The rest is none of their business."

He turned around, and just like that he was gone. Leaving her standing numb in the middle of her room.

 **Now this was pretty gut wrenching to write since I'm the type of girl who prefers my OTP living on fluffy clouds happy for all eternity. But unfortunately the world doesn't work like that… ;-)**

 **See you soon!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Hi everyone! Thank you for staying me for so long, I appreciate it so much! Love you all! Enjoy the chapter!**

Chapter 17

They were back on square one and she hated it. But Arya wasn't sad about it. No, she was way beyond the moping stage by now. Now she was only angry. Angry with Gendry, Bella, herself… And no matter how much she wanted to put all the blame on Gendry and only be mad at him, she couldn't. Because deep inside Arya knew that this was mostly her own fault.

Gendry rarely spoke to her in the dorm. He wasn't rude like he used to be before they became friends, and Arya was grateful for that. She tried not to be rude to him in return, that much she owed him at least.

He spent most of his time out or in his room. And Hot Pie wasn't much help either. She still couldn't understand what his problem was. Hot Pie wasn't rude either, only reserved. So she had to rely on Lommy for information on anything regarding Gendry and his chubby friend.

Lommy had told her that Hot Pie was just worried about the two of them. And apparently Gendry had had some problems with Bella, she was supposedly clingier than ever and Gendry had spoken his mind. That had ended in a fight between the two of them.

Even though Arya wasn't really in the game for Gendry at the moment, she still considered this one point to Team Arya.

Today however, Arya was determined to let loose and fuck all her problems just for this night. New Years Eve! There was going to be music, free cider, fireworks and the opportunity to become drunk and stay up until three without anyone judging her. It was going to be perfect.

Unfortunately, Brienne was still in Tarth so she wouldn't be joining, but Shireen was going, so was Myrcella who had turned out to be a lot nicer than Arya thought. Gendry was probably going as well, but Arya had decided to just ignore that. This was her night to forget about her problems.

So to pass the time between now and the night, she took a long bath. Then she painted her nails a dark purple color to match the top she was going to wear later. Her hair was straightened and she applied a smoky eye effect to her eyes. She wore a pair of black shorts, a purple tank top and her black leather jacket, with her sneakers.

Arya met up with Shireen and Myrcella outside of the apartment building at eight, after quickly eating the dinner Hot Pie cooked up.

"Hi, Arya!" Shireen said happily and went in for a hug. Arya hugged Myrcella as well and the three of them started the short walk to the building where the New Year's party was held.

It was almost as loud as the first party Arya went to with Hot Pie and Lommy. It was the same building but not the same apartment, the people throwing this one seemed more mature. The music was still playing on a loud volume but it wasn't deafening. This was probably why Shireen was interested in going. The girl wasn't really a party person unless it was a quiet one.

She spent the first hours with Shireen and Myrcella, alternating between dancing and chatting in some corner. So far Arya had only seen soda and lighter form of alcohol passed around. The couple who hosted had told them that they were saving the cider for the countdown.

Around ten Arya caught her first glimpse of her roommates. Hot Pie and Lommy were sharing an armchair and Gendry sat beside his leech, looking rather stoic and displeased. Whatever it was that had been going on between them must have been resolved since Bella was literally touching him _everywhere_ with Gendry from time to time pushing her hand away, mumbling something to her.

Their eyes met for a moment and Arya could have sworn she saw a glimpse of longing in his deep blue eyes. But then it was gone and he turned back to face his girlfriend who took the opportunity to latch onto his mouth in a deep kiss.

Really? Again? Well fuck it! If he wanted to sit there and suck face with someone he didn't even like, then damn it so could she!

XXX

Gendry leaned back in the couch he was sitting on. After their eyes had met a minute ago he let his true feelings slip up for a moment. He looked at her with all the longing he felt. All he wanted was for Bella to get the hell out of his life and to have Arya in her place. But he was confused over the fact that he was to cowardice to break up with Bella, and therefore had told Arya that they should stay away from each other until his head had cleared and Arya had decided what she wanted.

He hated what he had done, but it was the only resolution he could think of right now. So after Arya had sent him a look of defiance from afar, she had disappeared into the crowd and Bella went off to gossip with a friend over the phone he leaned back and forced himself to keep everything inside.

"Mate?" Hot Pie called upon his attention. Gendry opened his eyes to look at him but didn't stop leaning his head back. "You did the right thing."

"Did I?" Gendry sighed. "I'm not so sure anymore. I mean I was sure when I did it, but… Fuck…"

"You did. This game you were playing needed to stop, and it did."

"Yeah but not the way I wanted it to…"

"But at the same time, it was clear how much it hurt Arya to like you when Bella was around" Lommy chipped in. Gendry held back a snort. Sure it hurt Arya, but that was only part of the truth. The other part was that they had slept together and that's why it was hard for her. "I'm not saying that she's over you because she isn't. But this is the best way to deal with it until Bella is gone."

Gendry sighed again and closed his eyes. Why couldn't he just have a simple life? He heard Lommy and Hot Pie get up from their seat.

"We're going to take a breather" Lommy said. "You coming?"

Gendry shook his head without looking at them. He heard them walking away and as soon as he was sure they were out of sight he buried his face in his hands.

When he looked up again, he was about ready to scream. There he saw something that made his blood boil. Arya was dancing. It wasn't the fact that she was dancing, it was who she was dancing with. There, spinning with her and touching her in those places he had only a little more than a week ago was Edric fucking Dayne.

 _What the fuck?_

She didn't even like him. How many times hadn't he listened to the stories of how Edric was a general dick to everyone in Arya's fencing class? And now here she was swinging her hips in a seductive matter whilst Edric held a firm grip onto them.

He watched the sight was burning eyes and a rigid body. Before he knew it he was standing up. All he wanted to do was walk up to them and beat the shit out of the fucking prick for touching her. Yet his feet were planted to the ground.

Arya smiled, but Gendry could see that it wasn't a genuine smile. It was forced, and yet somehow she seemed to enjoy the attention she got from Edric. This didn't make sense. Arya would never do that, and here she was. Seducing a guy she hated. Was it to get back at him? To make him jealous? Whatever it was, it was working. He was fucking furious.

"Gennie?"

Gendry blinked a few times and turned his head and saw Bella clinging onto his shoulder. He hadn't even felt her close in on him. "What?" he asked gruffly.

"Why are you so tense?"

He shrugged and squirmed on instinct, trying to free himself from Bella's grip. "I'm just not in the party mood" he lied.

"Oh… Well maybe I can help with that." She pressed her breasts against him and started tracing her fingers in circular patterns over his chest, going lower and lower. Just as Bella was about to reach his lower abdomen, Gendry grabbed her wrist hard and removed it.

"No" he said firmly.

Bella pouted and gave him her best puppy eyes. "Why?"

"Because I don't want to right now."

"Fine" Bella huffed and let go of him. "I'm gonna go and see if there is anything decent to drink in this dump." Gendry grunted in response.

XXX

In all honesty, Arya wasn't exactly sure how she ended up with Edric on the dance floor. She bumped into him in the kitchen when she was getting another soda. He was making his obligatory comments about her and before she knew it she had grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him out on the dance floor.

She wasn't sure where Shireen or Myrcella had gone either. Though she had a pretty good idea where Myrcella was. Probably trying to start a conversation with that Dornish guy Trystane in her history class. And Shireen was probably giving her moral support by standing a few feet away, eavesdropping.

Time passed and before Arya knew it, cider was handed out. The countdown must be upon them. She checked her watch and indeed, five minutes left. She and Edric started to walk towards the group of people gathered near the windows.

But when Arya saw Gendry and Bella standing there with the leech clinging onto his shoulder she stopped abruptly. Fuck this! She needed to feel something, something that wasn't with Gendry.

So instead she grabbed Edric by the wrist again and pulled him towards the nearest bathroom.

"You don't want to look at the fireworks?" Edric asked, looking slightly puzzled.

"Fuck the fireworks."

After Arya locked the door behind them she pushed Edric backwards towards the counter with the sink and attacked his mouth with hers. Their lips collided and Edric responded immediately by grabbing her by the hips, turning them around and hoisting her up on the bench.

Their tongues battled for a moment before Edric pulled away with a smug look on his face. "I knew I'd get you eventually."

"Shut up" Arya hissed and started kissing him again, mostly just because she didn't want to see that look on his face, like she was some prize he'd won.

Suddenly they broke apart to the sound of people screaming and cheering. Edric smirked. "Happy New Year's" he said.

Arya responded by shrugging out of her jacket and pulling her top over her head. She was left in her black bra and Edric eyed her hungrily before he started kissing his way down until he reached the valley between her breasts. He grabbed one of her breasts and started massaging it hard.

She didn't let a single sound escape her. The kind of feelings she felt when Gendry did this to her weren't present, the only thing she felt was a mechanical need between her legs. No actual feelings were involved.

Edric started unbuckle his belt and pants, then pulled his boxers with his pants down to his knees. Arya pulled the zipper of her shorts down and he helped to keep her steady as she pulled them along with her panties down her hips. She heard them land with a small thump on the floor but didn't care to look where.

As Edric spread her legs to nestle between them, Arya placed her hands on his shoulders to brace herself for what was coming. With one swift motion, he was inside her. Arya let one small whimper escape. Other than that, the only sounds of pleasures he gave him were gasps as he moved inside her. Edric was smaller than Gendry and she felt the difference.

He buried his face in her neck and nipped hard at the skin. Arya was sure there would be a hickey later, but at the moment she couldn't find it in her to care. She could always treat it with an ice pack later.

In the end he did make her come with a loud gasp, but it was nowhere nearly as explosive and wonderful as it would have been if it was Gendry fucking her here in the bathroom.

"Let's go back to my dorm" Edric said as he pulled his pants back up.

Arya winced at the idea. "Actually, I'm tired" she answered and hopped down from the bed. That was only half a lie. She was tired, but mostly she just wanted to get away from him. "Listen, Edric. This…" she gestured between them "…is not going to happen again."

"A one night stand, then?" He leaned against the wall and pulled his hand through his hair to straighten it.

Arya nodded and proceeded to put on her leather jacket and wipe her mouth with some toilet paper to remove any smudges of lip gloss. Edric crossed the room and turned her around to pull her close. He rested one hand on her but and kissed her deeply. Arya didn't respond quite too eagerly.

"A great one night stand" he whispered. "I'll see you around."

"Bye" Arya whispered with a forced smile and left the room.

Back in the apartment, which was empty, Arya took a shower and then quickly swallowed an emergency morning after pill with some water straight from the faucet before crawling into bed completely naked. She just hoped that when she woke up she could forget about this night.

 **So yeah, this happened. And please don't call Arya a sleep-around or a slut, okay? Everyone makes mistakes and I'm sure you all have done stupid things when you're unhappily in love. I know I have… Anyway, leave a review and let me know what you think!**

 **And Ywenn01 there you have jealous Gendry! ;-) It might not be a much as you'd like, but there is hope for the future!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Hi guys! So I know it's been a little while and I'm sorry! At first I had a bit of writer's block and then I had a mini vacation! But now I'm back! I'll try to post the next chapter quite quickly since I've been gone for a bit.**

 **Oh and before I forget! WARNING! WARNING! Food poisoning ahead! Any emetophobics out there, brace yourselves! Just needed to get that out! But to be fair, it's not as detailed as in** _ **When no one else was**_ **…**

Chapter 18

Arya knew it had been a bad idea to eat those sausages. Hot Pie had kept insisting that there was nothing wrong with them, yet Arya thought they tasted and smelled funny. And it wasn't unusual for Arya to eat sausages so she should know. Then again, Hot Pie should as well since he was a fucking cooking major.

However the result was that now she lay awake at 2 am, nauseous and with a cold sweat all over her body. A part of her just wanted her body to get on with it and just puke all the contents of her stomach out so she could get rid of what she was a hundred percent sure was food poisoning on the verge of breaking out. But at the same time she didn't, because obviously…who likes being sick to their stomach?

Arya didn't, that was for sure.

Deciding that she should probably be inside the bathroom in the moment of occurrence, Arya grabbed her blanket and wrapped it around her shaking form and started walking on shaky legs to her bathroom, making sure to close the door to her room and locking the one to the bathroom.

Inside, she opened the small window to get some fresh air and sat down on the floor. She didn't even dare taking a look in the mirror to see what she looked like.

As she was sitting there on the floor against the wall, Arya thought back to the past weeks since New Year's Eve. The first thing she had done when school started was to check with both Brienne, Mycah, Shireen and anyone else possible if they had heard Edric saying _anything_ about that night.

Mycah said that he had overheard Edric joking with his friend about how drunk the friend had gotten and then about the friend having his stomach pumped, but that was about it. So hopefully Edric hadn't started any rumors about her being a slag. That calmed her a little.

So she had tried to get on with her studies as much as possible, practically trying to drown herself in them to avoid having to deal with any drama in her life. This came with a lot of study sleepovers at Brienne's dorm seeing as her roommate was almost never there and also joining Shireen's study group from time to time.

One day, about a month after New Year's Tyrion Lannister had asked her to stay behind after class. Perceptive as he was, he told her he had noticed how much school work she had up her sleeves and asked if everything was okay since she usually didn't drown herself in it.

Arya had given him half of the truth and answered her psychology teacher that she was just trying to focus on school since the finals would take place in a couple of months. Tyrion had only narrowed his mismatched eyes at her and told her that if ever there came a time when she needed to talk, he would be there. It was obvious that he didn't believe her, but Arya was grateful that he didn't try and coax it out.

She was snapped back to reality when she felt a strong pulse of nausea jolt through her and she had just managed to fumble to get the toilet sweat up before the contents of her stomach washed out. Arya wasn't sure if she should be relieved or not, but at least she could confirm that she had gotten food poisoning.

After she was done, she was too exhausted to move back to her bedroom so she cleaned the toilet with shaky hands and opened the window further. Arya took a couple of deep breaths and wrapped the blanket tighter around her body and sat down again, planning on spending the night locked inside that stupid bathroom just in case she needed to puke again.

XXX

But she didn't. At some point she had fallen asleep and was startled to wake when she heard a knock on the door.

" _Arya?"_ she heard Hot Pie call her name through the wood. _"What are you doing in there? Class is starting in fifteen minutes."_

"I'm not coming" she croaked. "I got sick from your stupid sausages last night."

She heard Hot Pie's breathing hitch. _"Okay…"_ he said slowly. _"Do you want me to leave some water and Pepto outside? Have you called in sick?"_

"No, I'm going to and yes you can leave Pepto outside. Just stay away from me and my bedroom just in case and open some windows."

Hot Pie mumbled an agreement and he walked away.

Arya didn't leave the bathroom until she was sure both Hot Pie and Gendry had left. She called in sick and decided to take a long shower to forget how crappy she felt. As she was lying down as much as possible in the shower her mind wandered to Gendry.

Gendry, Gendry, Gendry…

He had kept his end of his proposal. They were still playing their pretending game. After eight fucking weeks! Okay, eight and a half if you counted the three days before New Year's when she came home. Of course, they remained civil towards each other, because really, what choice did they have? The two of them lived together!

But they didn't exchange anything other than good mannered phrases such as 'hellos', 'goodbyes' and the occasional 'how are you's'. Arya wasn't sure what she wanted when it came to him anymore. At first she wanted him to fuck off, and then she wanted to pretend like nothing ever happened. Now she wasn't sure if she wanted A or B, but there was also option C which was to hug and kiss him until they both got their shit together.

It was all so confusing and she was riding this stupid rollercoaster she dreaded so much. Stupid!

She spent a while texting with Jon on her bed. The nausea had subsided some and she hadn't thrown up again. Yet… Arya had sipped some water to rehydrate her body buy hadn't touched the Pepto.

Jon understood that Arya needed to focus on something else, so he only asked about her studies and shared stories from up at the wall and Ygritte's latest mischief. The two were going strong despite their differences. Arya hoped to have a relationship like theirs one day.

 **J:** _And in other news, Ygritte managed to scare the shit out of poor Sam the other day…_

 **A:** _Really how?_

 **J:** _Well. As you know, he's terrified of heights and we were at an adventure park just beyond the wall. Ygritte coaxed him into going on an attraction with us (both me and Gilly were in on it) but she didn't tell him that it was an open drop!_

Arya chuckled.

 **A:** _OMG haha! Sounds like Ygritte! Poor Sam. Btw, how's the baby?_

 **J:** _Little Sam is great! He's almost walking on his own now. You should see Sam's face whenever they show it. He'll be a better father to the baby than the douchebag who got Gilly pregnant will ever be._

 **A:** _I know he will! When can I come and visit? I miss you guys!_

 **J:** _Spring break, maybe? Unless you have any plans._

 **A:** _I don't!_

 **J:** _Great! Come and visit us then! I know Ygritte wants to see you as well! She never stops talking about 'the hell the two of you will be raising' the next time you see each other…_

 **A:** _You better watch out Jon! You won't know what hits you!_

Eventually, to Arya's great dismay, Jon had to go back to work and Arya was left to toss and turn in her own displeasure. She tried to focus on Winterfell when something struck her.

"Shit" she hissed into the air. "Oh no, no, _no!"_ She sat up way to quickly and the nausea came flooding back but she didn't care. She counted the weeks with her fingers.

Both Hot Pie and Gendry had eaten the stupid sausages and neither of them showed any symptoms of being sick. Normally she loved to eat them, but now they tasted funny and smelled disgusting. Her boobs were sore as hell. She was nauseous. And then there was the most obvious sign of them all. _Shit!_

She threw on a pair of sweats and exited her room, shrugged on a jacket and quickly laced up her boots.

Arya kept her hood up on the way to and back from the pharmacy, paranoid that someone she knew might see her and wonder what she was buying. No one could see it. She just prayed the old gods and the new that she was wrong about this and that her body was just playing tricks on her.

The time before it settled felt like the longest wait in her whole life. _Please let it be negative,_ she thought. _Please, please, please! Tell me that it's food poisoning and nothing else!_

Arya felt as if she couldn't breathe when she stared down at the small, pink _plus_ sign.

 _Fuck!_

 **Dun, dun, duuun! Food poisoning… OR SO DID YOU THINK! No, probably not… I probably didn't fool anyone. You all probably connected the dots as soon as it read 'nausea'. Anyway let me know what you think, and I'm sorry that this chapter is a bit short. See you soon!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Hey, guys! So I've gotten some mixed opinions on both Arya and her pregnancy, but this chapter depicts what will happen. So keep reading!**

Chapter 19

When Hot Pie had informed him of Arya's current condition, Gendry's first instinct had been to stay behind and do what he could to take care of her. But then he remembered that he and Arya weren't talking at the moment. He was so sick of it, yet he had no idea how they would be able to find their way back to one another. So much shit had happened, but his feelings for her hadn't changed. If anything they had intensified when he couldn't even have her as a friend.

But no matter that, he couldn't have stayed behind even if he had had the choice. His schoolwork was piling up with the finals approaching in a few months. Pretty much every day was spent inside his room or at the library studying for the upcoming months. He was just thankful his mom had a math-brain and he could call her whenever he didn't understand.

So now here he was sitting with Hot Pie and Lommy in the library trying to focus but the two of them kept finding excuses to talk about something. Eventually he couldn't stand it anymore so he made up an excuse of needing a shower and packed up his things to head back to the dorm. His desk really was his best friend now.

As for Arya being down with food poisoning, he couldn't care less. There were worse things. And anyway, food poisoning wasn't contagious. When Gendry entered he either expected it to be quiet or to hear the sounds of her throwing up. What he had _not_ expected was to come home to the sounds of her crying.

He could hear faint sobs and immediately followed the sound that lead to her bathroom. There he realized that what he thought was faint sobs were in fact loud, heartbreaking, cracking cries that made his heart crack just by hearing.

"Arya?" he called, knocking on the door, worried.

" _Go away!"_ Arya screamed back. Her voice was weak and cracked, desperate.

"Arya!" The sound of her desperate voice made him desperate to get inside and see what was wrong. "What's going on? What happened?"

He heard her struggle for a breath, he tried to open it but realized it was locked and his pounding on the door intensified. "Open the door!"

" _No!"_

"Arya! You either open this fucking door _right now_ or I'll break it down! Your choice!"

He heard her scramble from wherever she was sitting and the click of the door unlocking. Arya had backed inside the bathroom and sat back on the toilet with her arms around herself. She looked terrible. Her face was flushed, her eyes red and swollen, her whole body shaking. Gendry had seen happy Arya, sad Arya, and angry Arya but never before had he seen Arya with a panic attack. He wanted to pull her close but he was frozen.

"What happened?" Gendry whispered, his own voice cracking. The look of her sitting on the toilet shaking made tears form in his own eyes.

Arya didn't answer at first, she didn't want to tell him but if she didn't he wouldn't let it go and she couldn't think of a lie in her state. No matter how much she tried, she couldn't calm down.

What the hell was she supposed to do? Arya couldn't think, she couldn't breathe. Her whole mind was blank with shock.

"It's not food poisoning" she choked out. This was it, saying it would make it real.

"Okay…" He was watching her with wary eyes. She wished he would stop giving her that look, it made everything even worse. "So what is it then?"

Really? How stupid could he be? Without a second thought she grabbed the pregnancy test which she had discarded on the side of the toilet and threw it at him as hard as she could. "There!" she screamed and then buried her head in hands for a moment before running them through her messy hair.

The test hit him hard in the chest but he didn't flinch. Instead he slowly bent over and picked it up. Arya watched his eyes widen and a look of shock form on his face. His knees seemed to wobble for a second before he looked up at her.

"Is it- is it- mi-" It sound like he wasn't sure if was going to cry or not.

Arya snorted, causing some snot to blow out of her nose and she wiped it away with the back of her hand. "It's not yours, stupid! I got my period like the day after we…did it!"

Gendry sighed and placed the test beside the sink. Then it was as if it suddenly struck him that she was pregnant all over again. "Hey!" he snapped, making her look up slightly startled. "Who's the fucking father?"

 _Oh god…_ She felt her breathing quicken and a new storm of tears threatened to break out. _Deep breaths…_ "Uh… It's uh, Edric Dayne" she mumbled, refusing to look at him. For some reason it felt like she was cheating on him.

And Gendry wasn't far off with his reaction. "Arya, _what the fuck_?!" His eyes blazed and suddenly his likeness with an angry bull was uncanny. "You slept with Edric Dayne? What, at the New Year's party?"

"Do you think I need this speech right now?" Arya screamed, getting up from the toilet seat so quickly it made her dizzy. "I'm already feeling stupid enough as it is!" And with that she turned around and let the latest sobs, which were already on breaking point, loose. She hugged herself tightly to try and calm down, not that it worked.

Gendry slowly approached her and wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on her shoulder. In that moment Arya lost it all over again. Her knees gave in and Gendry helped her sink slowly onto her knees so she wouldn't hurt herself by lowering himself too. His shushing whispers in her ear made it all worse and she had to fight for her breaths.

A part of her didn't want his support, she had never been the type to want comfort when she was sad. She was more of a hide-in-a-corner-until-she-felt-better kind of girl. But Arya also had a strong feeling that if she didn't accept it she would feel worse. No matter if she wanted it or not, she needed it.

She turned in his embrace and threw her arms around his neck and clung to him hard. In the end his jacket would be covered in snot, but she couldn't care less. "I'm sorry" Arya cried. "I'm so sorry!" She apologized for too many things to count. "I've been so stupid! I treated you like crap so many times and I don't deserve you. I'm such a selfish bitch!"

Gendry turned his head slightly to press a kiss to her temple. "It's okay, Arya… It's okay. Come on." He helped her on her feet and guided her out of the bathroom and into the living room.

After seating her on the couch he left for a minute and returned with a glass of water and a box of tissues. She grabbed them both gratefully and blew her nose before sipping the water. Gendry's hand rubbed comforting circles on her back.

"Gendry I'm really sorry" Arya started again. She hid her face in her hands. "I'm so fucking stupid, aren't I?"

Gendry chuckled and squeezed her shoulder. "A bit… But we all make mistakes, Arya."

She snorted again, though thankfully without any snot this time. "Yeah but this mistake is really deep shit."

"About that deep shit." He paused for a moment to let her brace herself. "What are you going to do? Are you going to keep it?"

Arya gulped down the water (wishing it was alcohol) before facing him with a look that clearly stated how stupid he was in her mind. "Look at me! Does it look like I'm ready to be a mother?"

"No, Milady" he murmured. "Not right now…"

"Exactly!" And she wasn't. The last thing she was ready for right now was being a parent. She knew her mom had Robb at a young age, but she had been emotionally ready. Arya was still trying to get her shit together. She had no education, she was nineteen years old, the father was a jerk and she was just too unstable. There was only one choice, unfortunately.

"Are you going to tell your family?"

"No! No! No way!" Arya waved her hands in the air to prove her point. "If my mom _ever_ finds out about this she'll send me to the Silent Sisters! No one can now!"

"They won't, not from me" he promised her. "But you have to tell Dayne. He may be a fucking jerkface but he has a right to know."

"I know…" Arya breathed. "I will. But I can't keep it. I mean, I don't want to deny someone the chance to live, but I can't be a mother right now. And I can't do this whole thing with giving birth and then give it up for adoption. Jon doesn't know who his mother is, and I've seen how hard that is for him to deal with. I won't condemn a child to that. I can't."

Gendry nodded understandingly.

"And there's another thing, Gendry."

He looked at her puzzled and drew his eyebrows together. "What?"

She looked at him desperately. "I can't play our pretending game anymore! Please, Gendry I need you in my life." She hadn't expected herself to say that, yet deep inside it was the truth. "You're the only one who knows, I'm need you."

Gendry quickly pulled her to him and crashed her chest against his and hugged her so hard she was sure she was choking. "I'm not going anywhere" he whispered.

Arya let out a relieved sigh and buried her face in the crook of his neck, breathing in his calming scent.

Arya wasn't sure how long they stayed that way but she didn't care because it felt so amazing to have Gendry back and for him to understand and not judge her. He was okay with her feeling like she needed to abort the pregnancy, and nothing could mean more. Being in his arms again made her realize to things.

One. Everything was going to be okay.

Two. Her feelings for him never disappeared, and they were clear.

 **Please don't give me too much slander okay? I know abortion is a sensitive topic for many people, and if you feel offended I apologize. But look at it from Arya's perspective and maybe you'll see where it's coming from.**

 **See you soon!**


	20. Chapter 20

**So here we have chapter 20 my beauties! Thank you to everyone who has stuck with me for so long! We're starting to approach the end of this fanfic ever so slowly. I'd say we have about 7 or 8 chapters to go.**

 **Enjoy!**

Chapter 20

Arya sat usually quiet during lunch, to her and Gendry it was understandable. He kept giving her encouraging smiles across the tables and she would give him a grimace that was her best impression of a smile in return. Hot Pie and Lommy however did not understand her need to be quiet and just think for herself.

But whilst Hot Pie remained oblivious and just thought Arya was stressed from homework or such, Lommy kept narrowing his at her and looking between her and Gendry as if he was freaking Aaron Hotchner from _Criminal Minds._ It almost felt like he was, just like Hotch always managed to stare his way to a confession from any unsub on the show, Lommy made her want to scream out to him that she was pregnant and he could now stop silently judging her.

"Arya, how are you feeling?" Lommy asked, bringing her out of her thoughts. She looked up pretending that everything was perfect and tried to give him an easy smile.

"Fine" she lied. "Why do you ask?" He looked between her and Gendry again before speaking. Gendry suddenly seemed to be very fascinated by his fork.

"Because you're not usually this quiet, you're usually the life of the table."

 _Damn him and his ability to read people!_ "I'm just tired. Lots of homework."

"Mhm. And that's why you've suddenly stopped eating?"

"Maybe I just haven't gotten my appetite back yet since my food poisoning." She gave him a defiant glare. Apparently Hot Pie only noticed the tension now as he suddenly looked up from his food and looked between Arya's and Lommy's staring match to Gendry's fascination for utensils.

"Oh, and that nonexistent appetite is stopping you from talking as well, is it?"

"What's going on between the two of you?" Hot Pie asked.

"I'm talking, and Arya is dodging my questions" Lommy answered.

Arya suddenly stood up. She couldn't handle them anymore right now, she needed to be alone until her last class before fencing. Then she would have to tell Edric and travel even deeper into the seven hells.

"Thanks for the profiling, Hotch" she said sarcastically. "But I'm just tired, and if there were something else, it would be _my_ business until I chose to come forward." And with those words she grabbed her food tray and walked off to dispose of it and seek out a quiet corner in the library where she could bury herself in _The Great History of Westeros_ until lunch break was over.

She was halfway there when she heard someone calling her name. Gendry was jogging to catch up with her. He grabbed her gently by the elbow and walked her to a corner nearby.

"How are you holding up?" he asked and used the hand he had grabbed her elbow with to put it on her shoulder.

"Besides the fact that I'm nauseous twenty-four-seven and my boobs feel like one touch could set of the atomic bomb inside them, excellent!" Arya answered. Gendry smiled at her sympathetically and drew her in for a short hug. Since they weren't a thing ( _yet_ ) neither of them wanted to show more feelings than they usually did in public, but Arya needed this hug and he understood it. "I'm going to tell him after the fencing practice today…" she murmured into his chest.

Arya couldn't see Gendry nod, but she felt it. "Good luck…" He released her so they could look into each other's eyes easier. "You know I'm right here if you need to talk, right?"

"Yeah, I know. Thank you."

"Anytime." He pressed a fleeting kiss to her temple, despite their quiet agreement before he walked away, presumably to his next class.

XXX

Arya thanked her lucky star that they practiced technique today, which meant no sparring with other people, which in turn meant no jumping around that might harm the embryo. She might not want to keep it, but Arya wasn't heartless. As long as it still was inside her, there was no point in putting it at risk.

After Syrio announced that they were done for the day, Arya tried to drag Edric to the side as casually as she could.

"We need to talk" she whispered and casted glances around her, paranoid that everyone could hear.

Edric eyed her up and down before answering. "Outside in five minutes."

And then he just walked off. She wondered if he was pissed at her or something. From time to time he still gave her those looks he kept giving her before they hooked up, only now they also had something in them that said 'I know something you don't'. Arya wasn't sure if that message was for her or everyone else around.

But if he was pissed at her, then why? He didn't have any reason to be. She had stated that nothing more would happen between them, it was a onetime thing. She hadn't spread any rumors about him and as far as she knew, he hadn't done anything either.

She tapped her foot nervously on the ground as she waited for him. When he finally appeared he had changed into his normal clothes but definitely hadn't had a shower yet.

"Want a smoke?" he asked when he leaned against the wall where she stood.

Arya shook her head, trying to look causal. "Trying to quit." And that was the truth. It was fucking hard sometimes, but both she and Gendry were honoring their promise. Oh yeah, and there was also the part about her being pregnant.

"Suit yourself." He put the package in his pocket. "Why the sudden need to talk?"

"I'm pregnant" she blurted before she could stop herself. To her surprise, Edric barely reacted. She thought he would scream or lash out at her, or even worse, start telling people.

"Congrats" he said and looked at her stomach from the corner of his eye. Arya couldn't tell if he was sarcastic or not.

"You do understand that it's yours, right? Otherwise I wouldn't tell you." Edric snorted, and she took that as a 'yes'. But here came the one question she dreaded the most. "Are you going to tell anyone?"

Finally he looked at her. But when he did, it made things worse and she wanted to cry again. "If you're looking for someone who'll spread rumors, tell Ramsay Bolton."

"So you won't tell anyone?"

He sighed and closed his eyes for a second. In that moment, just during that fleeting second, Arya was sure that she saw the real Edric Dayne and not the douche bag that got her pregnant. "I'm not entirely heartless, Arya. You can do whatever you want, abort it, keep it, it doesn't matter to me. But I want nothing to do with it, okay? If you choose to have it, then I'm not the father of that child."

She watched him walk off. Tears pooled in her eyes, but she wasn't sure why. This was the best outcome she could have hoped for, to be honest. So why did she feel like the world was crumbling down? Maybe it was just her letting go of the fear and tension she that had been harboring in her heart since she bought that fucking pregnancy test…

Nobody was there when she entered the dorm. Thankful, she took a long shower and then dressed in comfy sweats and let her wet hair cascade around her shoulder. She lay down on the couch and started flipping through channels until she found a documentary about wolves which suited her perfectly. There she remained until the others came home.

"Anybody home?" she heard Gendry ask when he entered the apartment. Arya raised her hand and waved it in answer. Gendry disappeared into his and Hot Pie's bathroom to wash his hands and then walked up to the couch.

"Hey…" she said.

"Hey" Gendry answered when Arya sat up to allow him space on the couch. "How are you?" She shrugged in response and let her head rest on his shoulder.

"I told him…"

Gendry's arm came around her shoulders and pulled her close. "How did he take it?" Arya let out a breath and snuggled closer to him. Suddenly Gendry's voice became hard. "I swear to all seven gods, if he hurt you in any way-"

"He didn't!" Arya interrupted quickly. "That's the thing. I asked if he would tell people, he said no. Then he said that I could do whatever I wanted but he didn't want to be a part of it." She felt the tears pool in her eyes again and tried to blink them away, but not before one slipped free.

"Maybe that's for the best?"

She nodded and closed her eyes. "Can I ask you something?" There was still one thing she was scared of.

"Of course." He shifted their positions so she would be able to meet his gaze. "Anything."

"I don't want to go through it alone, will you go with me? I booked an appointment for this weekend."

Gendry smiled softly at her and nodded. "I won't leave your side."

 **Leave a review with all your thoughts! I'm going on a mini vacation to see some family members during the weekend so I won't be able to write anything. But I'll try and get the next chapter out as soon as I get back, so we'll see. Take care everyone!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Hey beauties! Fair warning that this chapter might not be suitable for everyone, for obvious reasons. I've tried to get this as realistic as possible so we'll just have to see how I did. Again, I'm aware that abortion is a sensitive subject, hence the warning!**

Chapter 21

Arya tapped her foot against the scarily shiny floor of the clinic. Other women around her age with what looked like different stories sat around her. There was one girl who looked about fifteen who sat across from her with a woman who could only be her mother. The mother looked pissed, and probably couldn't accept that her young daughter was pregnant or had an STD. And the poor girl looked as if the devil itself was about to come and get her.

A nurse walked into the waiting room but called for a girl with her sheepish looking boyfriend. Arya let out a breath she hadn't realized her had been holding. She knew there was no other way but this. But still… Arya would be lying to herself that the decision didn't affect her at all.

She was nervous as hell and scared that something would go wrong. Like her ending up sterile or something. She had read that it could occur, and even though the last thing she wanted right now was kids, hence this decision, but in the future Arya would at least want the option open.

Gendry sat beside her, flipping through a brochure about puberty with mild interest. His hand rested beside her if she ever needed to cling to something. For now she was fine, but that hand would probably be needed later.

"You know" he started and pointed on a paragraph about voice change. "They make it sound like it's nothing at all, but this shit is actually quite creepy not to mention embarrassing. You should be happy you were far away when it happened to me."

Arya let out a small chuckle and rested her forehead on his shoulder for a moment. Gendry had just enough time to press a kiss to the top of her head. To the other people, it probably looked like they were a couple that forgot the condom and were now half sheepishly dealing with the consequences. It was strange to Arya that she didn't mind people thinking that.

But then again, maybe not so strange. She did have strong feelings for him after all…

"Arya Stark?"

Arya looked up to see a nurse looking from a writing board and then around the waiting room and back to the sheet of paper clipped to her board. On shaky feet, she got up and Gendry immediately followed. The nurse showed them into a room that was just as clinic and white as the waiting room.

"Please, have a seat" the nurse said and gestured towards two chairs near the door. "The doctor will be with you shortly." Arya nodded and the nurse left the room.

The whiteness of the room almost slapped her in the face. Everything was white, except for some furniture and a text someone had written on the wall that said ' _We are here to help you'_. There was a desk with a matching chair and computer in one corner and a gynecologist chair with a table for supplies.

"Are you okay?" Gendry asked and eyed her as if she was a bomb about to explode.

"I'm fine" Arya reassured him, but it was futile since he could see right through her. He quirked an eyebrow but didn't push her further.

The door opened and a woman clad in a doctor's robe entered. She had long, wavy red hair in a ponytail and glasses, she greeted them both with a kind smile.

"Hello" she said. "My name is Celia Thorne and I'm a gynecologist. You must be Arya?"

"That's me" Arya answered and shook the warm hand she held out. Dr Thorne's kind, doe-like eyes made her feel a lot calmer than before. Next the doctor held her hand out for Gendry who politely shook it.

"Gendry" he said and offered her a smile.

"Hello, Gendry." Dr Thorne sat down on the office chair and crossed her leg over the other. "Are you the father?" she asked Gendry.

Gendry opened his mouth to answer but Arya cut him off. "No" she stated. "He's just a friend. You know, moral support."

"Of course" Dr Thorne smiled. "Now, before we begin, I just want to double check that our stats are correct." She opened a document on the computer and started reading. "Arya Lyanna Stark, born on July 25th 1997, you don't have any illness and you don't take any form of medication?"

"Everything's correct."

"Do you smoke and have you ever taken any form of drugs?"

"I have never done drugs and I quit smoking last year."

"Good." Dr Thorne looked approvingly at her and wrote something down in the document. "And you said during the phone call that you are eight weeks along?" Arya nodded. "Alright, the most normal form of abortion for this early stage is the medicinal one, but it's up to you which one you choose. The medicinal one is gentler towards the body, but if you wish to have the surgical one that it's your body and therefore your choice."

Arya felt Gendry's hand close in on her thigh and giving it a reassuring squeeze. She gave him a slight smile before facing the doctor again. "Whatever you think will work the best. Frankly I just want it over with."

"I understand that" Dr Thorne reassured. "Just one more question if you don't mind? Does the father and your parents know what you are about to do?" Arya stiffened and she felt Gendry do the same. She looked down for a moment. "We won't contact your parents since you're over eighteen but it's not healthy to bottle this up."

"He doesn't want any part in it, the father that it is."

"Stupid prick" Gendry muttered under his breath and Arya surprisingly laughed at his protectiveness over her.

"And no my parents don't know because I know how they will react and I'd rather not go down that road. I have no desire what so ever to spend the rest of my life as a nun." Gendry chuckled beside her.

Dr Thorne nodded. "Well then I say we get started. Today you will take a medicine that starts the abortion. You will probably begin bleeding, as if you had your period at home but it doesn't have to happen. And in two days you will return and that's when we pop you up in the gyn-chair to have a medicine that expels the pregnancy fully."

Arya nodded again, unable to speak at the moment. Her heart was beating furiously in her chest. There was no turning back now. She had started tapping her foot again, a bad habit that always emerged when she was nervous. Gendry was the one who spoke next.

"Will it cause her any pain?" he asked and his hand returned to her thigh.

"It might" Dr Thorne answered, looking sincerely at both him and Arya. "Both during these two days and on Sunday, but it will be bearable, I can assure you that. There's no need to worry." Gendry nodded and Arya let out a breath again. "Are you ready?"

"Not really" Arya choked out. "But there's no turning back."

"I'm going to get you the medicine but you can take all the time you need before you swallow it."

As soon as the doctor was out, Gendry pulled her in for a hug. They were a little constricted by the armrests between them but Gendry's hand caressed her hair in a soothing matter and he rested his face in the crook of her neck. Arya's hands came around his shoulders and she clung to him, relishing in the feeling of his warm, sturdy body.

A minute later, the doctor returned and Arya pulled out of Gendry's embrace to take the small foil package and mug of water. She took a deep breath before popping the pill inside her mouth and swallowed it.

Immediately, the obligatory second thoughts popped up in her head. In her heart, she knew that she had made the right choice, but her mind wondered if maybe, just maybe she could have made the other one. But that baby wouldn't know its father, and most likely not its mother either, and the last thing she would do was to make a child live with that even if he or she had adoptive parents.

"Are you okay?" Gendry asked and put his hand over hers.

Arya tilted her head to the side. "I'm not sure, I think I will be. Eventually…"

"This can be traumatic for everyone involved" Dr Thorne cooed. "So if you want me to set you up with a therapist, then I will."

She shook her head. That was one of many things she refused throughout her life. If she needed to talk, there was always someone at her disposal. Now that her dad didn't know about her soon-to-be not state, Arya had Gendry. He understood and didn't judge her. That meant the most to her.

"I'm fine, I have people I can talk to" Arya responded and shot Gendry a small smile, which he returned.

"Okay. You just need to stay for a little while and then you can be on your way. While the two of you wait, I'm going to print out the time and date for your next visit in two days."

Arya nodded again and Dr Thorne sat down by the computer to print out the paper.

XXX

Two days later, Gendry took her to the clinic for the second time. He respectfully turned around when Arya stripped from the waist down, causing her to playfully state that there was no need for him to be coy since he had already seen all her goods. Dr Thorne shot them a questioning glance but didn't say anything.

He held her hand the entire time she was in the torture-chair. That was at least what it looked like to him, yet she showed no sign of pain when they worked. After that she locked herself in the nearest bathroom and Gendry was left outside. He moved the nearest chair to the bathroom door and sat down to wait.

She spent almost two hours inside, only letting Dr Thorne in when she asked for it. Every now and again, Gendry asked for updates on how she was doing in there, and every time she answered 'fine'.

"Is she really fine?" Gendry asked Dr Thorne the third time she walked out of the bathroom. Arya bluntly refused to let him in and he was worried something was wrong and that she just was too afraid to tell him.

"She is a bit traumatized, but strong" Dr Thorne answered with a kind smile. "I think the only reason she doesn't let you in is because she doesn't want you to see her so vulnerable."

"But doesn't she understand that I could not care less about that? I just want to make sure she feels alright!"

Dr Thorne offered him a gentle smile and a pat on the shoulder. "I understand your frustration, Gendry. However Arya is in a stage where you have to let _her_ decide if she wants company or help. When you leave this clinic, let her decide what she wants, okay?"

Gendry closed his eyes. His stubbornness was getting in the way, but he couldn't let it. Dr Thorne was right. It was Arya who had to pull the strings over the upcoming days. "Okay…"

When Arya emerged from the bathroom it was clear that she had been crying but Gendry didn't say anything about it. They drove back to the dorm in silence. Arya kept her gaze at the town outside but her eyes were glazed as if she didn't really pay attention.

As soon as they were inside, Arya said a quick hello to Hot Pie before she disappeared into her room. Gendry went straight for the fridge to eat or drink the first thing he could get his hands on. He just wanted something to dull his senses that wasn't alcohol.

Arya stayed in her room the rest of the night, saying that she wasn't hungry. It was only when Gendry stopped by to say goodnight that he saw her again.

"I was just saying goodnight" he told her in the doorway.

She nodded and he was just about to leave when she called his name. "Gendry?"

"Yeah?" He turned around.

"I don't want to be alone tonight. Is that okay?" Well aware that he couldn't deny her anything despite the fact that it was wrong for them to share a bed when he still had a girlfriend, Gendry closed the door behind him and crawled under her covers. But then again, they shared affectionate touches that only couples should as well.

Arya settled herself against him and sighed. "Thank you."

 **Sorry if there are a lot of mistakes. I'm really tired. I'm gonna go to bed now Goodnight! And leave a review!**


	22. Chapter 22

**Hey, sweethearts! Sorry about the slight delay. I had a hard time writing this chapter and I'm really nervous about posting it, but here we go! I probably won't get anything out this upcoming week, I have a theatre competition (wish me luck ;) )! Sorry about eventual mistakes, I'm really tired…**

Chapter 22

Gendry awoke to the screeching sound of an alarm. At first he thought it was his alarm clock and tried to turn it off, but with no success. The sound still threatened to make him deaf. Then he smelled it. _Smoke!_

He yanked his door open and ran out and was immediately greeted by smoke oozing out of the kitchen. Shit! Shit, shit, shit! What the fuck was happening? Hot Pie never had accidents happening in the kitchen, and he was with Lommy anyway. But there was still one more living there.

"Arya?" he yelled just before he entered the kitchen.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Arya said desperately. He could see her through the smoke trying to fix the situation.

"Turn off the stove open the windows!" Gendry ordered her and grabbed the towel hanging of the handle of the oven and used it to try and fan away some of the smoke so the fire alarm would turn off.

"I'm so sorry I was just trying to cook something!" Gendry finally managed to turn of the fire alarm and sighed in relief. He helped her to remove the frying pan which was pretty much ruined by what looked like bacon which had been burned stuck to the pan. "I'm so stupid!" She buried her face in her hands.

"No you're not." He removed her hands from her face and smiled at her.

She groaned loudly and stepped away from the smelly but intimate moment they shared. "I'm such a sad excuse for a cook! It's just that- You've done so much for me this past week and I thought I could at least, like, cook you breakfast or something but you can see how that went!" She gestured to the mess she had made. "I just- Oh Jesus…"

Gendry couldn't help the wide smile forming on his face. People could say whatever they wanted about Arya. That she was tough, prone to violence at times, a tomboy, whatever! It all might be true, but deep down she was a sweetheart who cared about people way more than she should. Maybe it was just certain people who managed to dig that deep inside her and find that side.

"You're amazing, you know that?" He phrased it as a question even though it was more of a statement. Arya shrugged and took a grim glance at the black and burnt stuck bacon in the frying pan. "Tell you what? How about we change into actual clothes and then go to the breakfast diner?" Arya nodded.

XXX

The day went by relatively fast for Arya. She had her classes, ate lunch with Brienne, took her fencing class, sparred a bit with Brienne afterwards. Considering her abortion, it all went okay. The bleeding had stopped, so that was something. She had her check up, which she took the bus to. Gendry had asked if she wanted a ride but she told him she could manage on her own. Arya wanted in and out as quickly as possible so she could get back to practicing.

A fencing competition was coming up in two weeks between King's Landing College, Storm's End's academy and University of the Vale along with a couple of other schools she couldn't remember and Arya was ready to push beyond her limits to get as far as possible. She, Brienne and some other kid from senior class had been chosen to represent the school in the different age groups. She didn't expect to win, but she at least wanted to get to the semifinals.

However the best thing was that her dad, Jon and Rickon had managed to take some free time and were coming to watch! Jon had been the first to volunteer, but her dad had also promised to not miss her daughter's first real competition and Rickon would never forgive anyone if they left him at home.

Sweaty, tired and sore, Arya made her way up to the dorm. Hot Pie was once again missing. She still couldn't understand what his problem was sometimes. Even though it was better now, he gave her or Gendry these weird looks sometimes, though Lommy often gave Hot Pie reprimanding looks whenever that happened so Arya guessed she had him to thank for that. It was probably Lommy who kept Hot Pie away as well.

"Long day of fencing?" Gendry asked when he saw her step inside. She saw some of his books open and spread out and his laptop started.

"Yep" she answered and took of her jacket. "But it has to be. I have a competition in two weeks."

"As long you don't work yourself too hard." He looked at her stomach for a moment and Arya understood what this was about.

"It's really fine, Gendry. I spoke to Dr Thorne about it and she assured me. Don't worry."

She took a quick shower and then sat down next to him and watched him work. She watched the slight crease between his eyebrows whenever he focused on something difficult, the slightly satisfied smile when he figured it out and the way his ocean eyes read the words in front of him. Arya watched his red, kissable mouth. Those lips tasted so good to kiss, nibble and suck. For the first time since New Year's Eve, Arya felt some warmth spread between her legs.

But she crossed them in hope that it would go away. She wanted to succumb to her feelings for him, the gods knew they both were aware of them and his towards her. But he still had a girlfriend. They had kissed on the cheek, the forehead and shared embraces and that was as far as they went for now. Bella was always in the way, and Arya had asked Gendry when he planned to break up with her because this was getting ridiculous. He only answered 'soon'.

'Soon' wasn't good enough. She wanted to kiss his lips, to feel his tongue caress her own and explore her mouth, his hands traveling from her neck to her hip and back up again. But she couldn't because of 'soon'.

"Arya?" Gendry suddenly asked, bringing her out of her thoughts. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine" Arya answered, confused by the question. He frowned at her.

"I'm not talking about your average 'hello how are you'-feeling. I meant about everything that's been happening lately." Arya's mouth formed an _o._ This was not a conversation she wanted to have, but knew she had to eventually so why not get it over with? "Guilty, scared, sad?"

She leaned back in her chair and tilted her head before answering. "I don't feel guilty…" Did that make her heartless? "Many people would, but I don't. I feel like I made the right decision. So you don't have to walk on eggshells around me."

He nodded slowly and Arya felt his gaze lower to her lips and back up. Her body inched closer on its own. She watched him swallow and look at her lips again. There was desperation in his eyes, she could see it. He wanted to kiss her just as much as Arya wanted to kiss him.

"Kiss me" she whispered. Gendry swallowed again and took a deep breath, but didn't make a move. "Please…"

That was it for him. He leaned in and as soon as their lips met, the barrier broke between them. It was a twister of emotions and actions. Relief, ecstasy, lust, desperation, fear, guilt, _love?_ Her hands twisted hard in his hair to pull him closer and his hands gripped her hips. When their tongues met and Arya finally got to satisfy her need for her tongue against his, she moaned loudly.

Gendry pulled her off her chair and into his lap with ease. Arya never wanted the kiss to end. What would happen when it did? They would have to deal with the consequences, and what would they be? No, she never wanted it to end. She wanted to kiss him forever and stay in her temporary bubble of happiness.

Way too soon, he pulled away and Arya whimpered. She was sure this was it, but then he started nuzzling her neck, licking and nibbling on her sensitive skin. The heat between her legs intensified and she could feel his hardness through their jeans. Arya started to grind herself against him, relishing in the groan he let out.

His hands played with the hem of her t-shirt and Arya grabbed one of his wrists to stop him. There was one thing she needed to set straight despite the aching longing in her center. "Gendry, wait" she panted.

Blue eyes met grey and never before had she seen such yearning in his eyes. She ran her hand through his hair to calm him before talking.

"One thing." He nodded. "I can't go all the way. Not just yet." Something flashed before his eyes. Arya couldn't quite place what it was but he started to ease her off him and stood up.

"I'm sorry" he whispered apologetically and ran a hand through his hair in annoyance. "I should have understood that you're not ready. I took advantage of you, I'm sorry."

He started to walk away. Hell no! He got it all wrong.

"No!" She yanked on the sleeve of his shirt to make his stop. "Wait!" He turned around and faced him, she could see the guilt coursing through him. But she wouldn't have it. That kiss had left her breathless for more, the _only_ thing she couldn't do was intercourse, but the stupid bull didn't get that. "I didn't mean it like that! I only meant that I don't want to do intercourse." Arya gently pulled him closer and put her hand over his crotch. She could feel his warmth and hardness through his jeans and squeezed to convince him.

It seemed to work since he tried and failed to hold back a groan.

"But there are other things we could do."

Gendry smiled and roughly pulled her in for a hot kiss and picked her up by her hips like she had done the first time. Again they landed on his bed, her on his lap.

He helped her to quickly pull of his shirt so she could run her fingers all over his perfectly sculpted body. Arya's arousal seemed to intensify with every slope and hill that signified a muscle. Her hands traveled up to his shoulders again and he kissed the corner of her mouth before raising her arms above her head so he could pull off her t-shirt.

They both reached for the clasp of her bra and she chuckled when Gendry was the first to reach it. She wasn't nervous. Not this time. This was something they both craved, desperately.

"Beautiful" he murmured and started to fondle and kiss her breasts they way he remembered that she loved. Every touch, every kiss set her on fire. Gendry knew exactly how to pleasure her, and it was both scary and exhilarating.

Arya started squirming as a sign for him to stop, a sign which he understood. She immediately stood and for a moment it seemed as if Gendry was afraid that she was leaving again. Arya half smiled and half snorted at him, and her other response to his reaction was to unbutton her jeans and pull them down along with her underwear.

Gendry got the hint and unbuttoned his own jeans and thrust upwards to pull them of more easily. When they were both naked, Arya sat down across his lap again.

Carefully, Gendry let one of his hands travel down her collarbone, down through the valley between her breasts. Arya's breathing quickened when he let it run down her stomach and to the patch of dark hair between her legs.

Her wetness coated his fingers as soon as he reached the area. "Fuck" he groaned. "So wet…"

"Touch me" was her only response.

His fingers ghosted over her clit and Arya cried out and pressed herself closer to him. She moaned even louder as Gendry ran his fingers along her slit, working her open. The teasing was unbelievable and she slowly let her hand encircle around his rigid member. Her nimble hand squeezed him and started working up and down whilst at the same time twisting her hand in a rotating motion.

Gendry leaned his forehead on her shoulder for a couple of seconds, groaning and enjoying her little game. Then he kept on focusing on his own task and pushed a finger inside her wonderful, wet and warm centre. He relished in her cry of ecstasy and pumped the one finger in and out a couple of times before adding another.

Arya couldn't control her moaning or the way her hand quickened its pace around his cock, caressing the head with her fingers, spreading the pre-cum and working his shaft again. She was burning inside and the pressure built inside her lower stomach. Gendry's calloused fingers created a friction against her inner walls that was just… _amazing!_ His equally calloused thumb found her clit and started pressing and rolling it with the same pace as his fingers inside her.

Gods his fingers!

She brought her other hand down to his balls and rolled the small marbles inside them between her fingers, earning her a loud moan of her name from him. His body tensed more and more and she understood that he tried to stop himself from spilling his seed until she reached her peak.

But he wouldn't have to wait for long because the tension was at its breaking point and his thumb worked even harder on her clit.

"Gendry!" she panted. "I'm gonna- gonna cum!"

He growled and gave her neck a hard nibble before looking her straight into the eyes. "Cum, baby! Cum for me!"

She kept his gaze just until the moment of orgasm, then she couldn't look at him and stilled the movements on his cock to just a hard grip. She threw her head back and moaned loudly, her whole body convulsing and the pleasure radiating from her swollen clit and clenching walls. Gendry gave her that one contented sigh that she knew, just from the two mere times that they had been together, that he saved for when she came around his fingers.

Arya barely gave herself time to catch her breath before she gave him a scorching kiss and picked up the pace with her hand again and drove it up and down furiously until Gendry broke their kiss to grunt her name loudly. His whole body tensed before his seed shot out and pooled over hand and some of it ended up on her stomach.

They smiled goofily at each other as they tried to catch their breaths and Arya wiped her hand on his sheet, not caring how he felt about that. She was about to thread her fingers through his hair again and say something sexy when she heard the front door slam shut and a shrill voice call.

" _Gennie? Gennie, where are you?"_

All the pleasure and happiness Arya had felt was gone in an instant. This wasn't happening, this _couldn't_ be happening!

"Shit!" Gendry hissed and pushed her off his lap and scrambled up to retrieve his trousers. "I'll be out in a minute!" He called out.

Arya could only watch the scene playing before her. The guy she was in love with, yes she had finally admitted it to herself, was frantically pulling his jeans up after _their_ sex session to face his _fucking girlfriend!_ She had never been so mad before in her entire life. Including that time when she was eleven and some boys cut of her hair for a laugh.

' _One second'_ Gendry mouthed at her.

"Wait!" she hissed when he was about to turn around. She certainly noticed it, but he hadn't. Arya pulled him back by putting her hands on his hips and drawing him in to lick away the large drop of cum that had caught just beside the line of hair below his bellybutton down to his crotch. Not even the salty flavor could distract her from her anger. Gendry stifled a groan.

Then he walked out, shirtless, and made sure to close the door behind him. Arya just sat there dumbstruck before she pulled the nearest shirt (which happened to be his) over her frame. She heard them exchange conversation and at one point, the sound of what could only be a slap against fabric.

Arya felt the rage boil inside. If she smacked his ass, she swore to all seven gods-

But just then he walked inside again and closed the door. He pulled out a new t-shirt from his wardrobe since she was wearing his old one.

"She wants me to carry her bags whilst she goes shopping" he murmured quietly. As if Arya wanted that piece of information! Gendry kneeled beside the bed and cupped her face, but Arya was too angry to lean in to the touch. "Look. We'll find a way to be together, okay? I promise."

"We don't need to ' _find a way',_ Gendry!" Arya whispered-screamed at him and pushed his hand away. "It's actually quite simple! Break up with her!"

"You're right. I will. Soon." That one single word felt like a punch to her gut.

She watched him walk away and out. Arya refused to let any form of emotion escape her until she heard the sound of the front door opening and closing. Then she let tears of anger pool in her eyes and soon fall freely as she buried her face in his pillow.

 **Poor Arya… But distraction is coming since we are having a certain fencing competition in the next chapter! Keep the reviews coming!**


	23. Chapter 23

**Hi everyone! Sorry it's been a while, I've had a bit of writer's block. But here is the new chapter. And I know I said we had a few more to go, however I feel like this one sums up the story better so I'll make this the last one instead.**

Chapter 23

Arya watched as the weather changed from sunny but cold to rainy and dark as the bus entered the Stormlands. Brienne was sleeping next to her and the senior kid was sitting behind them, listening to music. She had left King's Landing this morning to travel with the other two to Storm's End for the competition.

She was aware that the only thing she _should_ be thinking of was the upcoming day, but that wasn't what was running through her head. _Finally_ Arya had found a moment alone with Hot Pie and had asked him was his problem was.

" _Hey, Hot Pie?" Arya called when she entered the apartment that afternoon. Gendry was at work –she guessed so they were alone._

" _Yeah?" He looked up from his textbooks._

" _Can I talk to you real quick?"_

" _Uh, sure." Arya watched him mark how far he had gotten in the book and then put it aside to wait for her to start talking. "What's up?"_

 _Arya tried to hide the deep breath that she took to calm herself even though she wasn't sure why she was nervous in the first place. The odds that Hot Pie would go off on her were small, next to none. "Look. I'm not sure how to say this so I just will…"_

" _Have I done something to upset you?" Hot Pie looked worried and she couldn't blame him._

" _More like confuse." She paused for a moment. "I feel like you have been given me and Gendry weird looks and I want to know why."_

 _Hot Pie closed his eyes and sighed before looking at her with a look on his face that she could only describe as 'sadly compassionate'. "You're right and I'm sorry." He looked away for a moment. "I want you two to find happiness and I believe you can find it together. But I don't like the game you're playing."_

'The game'…

Hot Pie was right. What they were doing was a game, and a stupid one at that. Arya still wanted to be with Gendry, but she also felt like she had two options with him. Either take what they've been through and start over, or leave him forever. It wouldn't be possible for them to 'still be friends' after all this and Arya was sure Gendry knew it too.

Arya hated ultimatums. They made her feel claustrophobic, like she just had to get away. But the worst thing about this ultimatum was, she wasn't sure how long she could wait anymore and she had no idea what to do.

The bus stopped outside Storm's End's Academy where the competition would be held. Arya silently cursed the weather. A plastic roof had been set up on the school yard so the players could stay dry but the rest had to sit with umbrellas on the grandstand.

"Brienne" Arya murmured and gently shook her best friend to wake. Brienne blinked a couple of times and then took in her surroundings.

"We're here?" Brienne asked and Arya nodded in response.

Arya got up to fetch their bags whilst Brienne tapped the senior on his head and told him to move his but since they had arrived. She had to assume that Brienne and the senior knew each other since she doubted that her best friend would speak to anyone like that otherwise.

The three of them made their way to the tent-like area to report their arrival. Brienne took one look at the judge who kept track at the arrivals of competitors and a big smile broke out on her face.

"Jaime!" she called and ran up to the blond haired and green eyed man who greeted her in a hug.

 _Jaime Lannister?_ He was one of the judges? Oh this couldn't be a good thing if he was anything like his sister. Arya hoped to all gods, old and new that he was nothing like the conniving little snake that was his twin.

"Hey, Brie" Jaime Lannister said when they released each other. "How are you?"

"I'm great but why didn't _you_ tell me you were one of the judges when I called the other night?"

Lannister smirked, his green eyes glinting with mischief. "What would be the fun in that?" He looked behind his apparent friend and saw Arya and the senior standing there awkwardly. "Who are your friends, Brie?"

Brienne turned around and gestured towards them to come forward. "They are also entering for King's Landing College but for other age groups. This is Damien." She pointed at the senior. "And this is Arya."

Jaime clasped hands with Damien before moving on to Arya. He gave her a calculating expression. "Arya _Stark_?" he asked and Arya nodded. "You look a lot like your father."

"So people tell me" Arya answered, trying to look calm and collected. Jaime gave her another look.

"Well, I have to get back to the judges but I'll make sure to book you in. If you're looking for Syrio Forel, he should be around the corner in that tent over there." Jaime pointed to another, smaller tent nearby.

"Thanks, Jaime" Brienne smiled. He gave them all a nod before walking away. As soon as Arya was sure he was out of hearing range, she opened her mouth.

"Jaime Lannister? Really, Brienne?"

Brienne turned to look at her petite friend. Arya refused to cower even when Brienne gave her a look that reminded her of the looks her mom used to give Rickon. "Arya, don't be like that. I know he can seem like an asshole at times, but he's kind. And loyal, and brave…"

"I heard he's a really good swordsman" Damien piped in.

"Oh, he is" Brienne agreed.

Arya scoffed. "You'd think it's him you're in love with and not your gay best friend."

Brienne blushed slightly at Arya's words. "Shut up" she murmured.

They walked to the other tent only to quickly find Syrio's curly mop of black hair immediately. He gave them the general information. How this would play out, which schools were going to spar against each other first, in which order the age groups went. Since Arya was the youngest of the three and a freshman, she would go first. He also showed them where to hang out when they weren't performing.

Arya was just about to check out the other competitors in her age group when her phone rang.

"Hello?" she answered.

" _Hi, sweet girl, it's dad_ " her dad said on the other line. _"I'm here with Jon and Rickon now. They went looking for places and I'm getting Rickon some soda."_

"Okay, great! I probably won't be able to see you but I'm happy you're here. Give them both a hug from me, okay?"

" _I will. We're rooting for you, darling!"_

"Thanks, dad. I love you."

" _I love you too, Arya."_

And they hung up.

All together there would be three rounds. Competitors from six schools were present and in each round these six from every age group were to spar against each other. The winners of the three pairs were sent to the semi finals in two weeks. It was as simple as that, and Arya liked it.

She barely paid attention to the other competitors until it was her turn. Her heart pounded hard in her chest as she walked onto the stage. The people cheered on her and her opponent whom she walked beside. They gave each other a quick nod before standing opposite each other.

Arya took a quick glance at the judges. There at the table sat Jaime Lannister with a calm expression, Daario Naharis – a young swordsman from Essos, and _Petyr Baelish_ of all people. Arya knew he used to fence as a young man but not since after a past competition where he went berserk at her _uncle_ after he lost against him.

"Please shake hands as a sign of good will" Daario Naharis said in an almost bored tone. They did as they were told and immediately made some distance between themselves.

As soon as the whistle sounded, Arya and her opponent started circling each other. He tried to land a blow which she quickly dodged and used his momentary confusion to strike against him.

He dodged the blow as well and they kept circling each other. Arya could feel Syrio's eyes in the back of her head and she knew he wanted her to act. So she did. She struck again and the sparring begun for real.

The crowd cheered as Arya swiftly sidestepped a strike that would have hit her and therefore ended the match if she hadn't moved at the last second. Arya tried to spin around her opponent and hit her mark from behind, but he seemed to see that coming and spun with her.

They kept sparring and Arya felt her heart grow slightly weary. She needed to end this before she got too tired and therefore sloppy.

She tried to hit him on one of his legs where he wasn't protected by his sword but failed. He blocked her sword and tried to spin it out of her hand but she held Needle in a tight grip. Arya sparred against him a couple of times before reaching out to bump her sword against his chest.

Barely a second after Needle hit its target, the whistle sounded again and the match ended. The audience erupted in cheers and Arya was pretty sure she could hear Jon and Rickon scream louder over everyone else. She felt proud of herself when Jaime Lannister raised her hand to declare her the winner but for some reason she couldn't lose herself in that happy daze that came with winning. She wasn't as happy as she knew she should be.

Arya walked off the arena with her opponent who gave her a nod and quick 'congrats', which she replied to with a nod of her own.

The rest of the competition went past in a blur. She barely caught anything except that Brienne won her match against Loras Tyrell and was therefore set for the semifinals as well, and that the senior – Damien lost his match. When she, Brienne and the other contestants set to the semifinals were brought onto the stage for one final round of applause, Arya didn't feel proud or glowing like the others.

Instead she just felt crowded and cramped, she barely heard the audience or the voice of Jaime Lannister speaking in the microphone. She could feel sweat running down her forehead and it had nothing to do with her earlier sparring. A deep breath didn't help her to calm down. She needed to get away from here, and not just this arena. But from everywhere.

As soon as they were ushered off the stage and the loved ones of the contestants started pouring in from every direction, Arya almost felt like she couldn't breathe and pushed her way through everyone.

"Arya?" she heard someone call. She didn't care. All that mattered right now was getting some space.

A loud thunder cracked the air and raindrops started to fall. They felt cool against her cheeks and she sighed. She didn't feel like crying but at the same time she did and it made no sense. Yet, maybe it did. With everything that had happened, was it really that wrong to want to get away?

"Arya, what are you doing?" she heard Jon call behind her. "You'll catch a cold standing here in the rain!" He wrapped his hoodie around her and Arya instantly felt too hot but she didn't say or do anything since she knew Jon only meant well. "I tried to reach you inside the tent but you ran off." He sounded hurt.

"Sorry" Arya apologized. "It was just a bit crowded in there. Where's dad and Rickon?" she added to change the subject.

"Oh…" Jon chuckled. "Rickon was still hungry after all the popcorn he downed so dad went with him to buy a hotdog." Arya tried to smile because it was just so like her youngest brother, yet she failed. And Jon being ever perceptive, of course noticed it. "Are you alright?"

"Fine." Arya couldn't look him in the eye. "Are we leaving soon?"

"Probably as soon as Rickon finishes his food." He watched her for a moment. "I thought you'd be happier, you classified to the semifinals. Congrats, by the way!"

Arya relied on Jon for support when he went in for a hug, but mostly because she needed it. Not because she was happy. "Thanks…" Her voice was dull. She had a feeling Jon still knew something was off, though Jon knew her enough to know that if Arya wanted to talk, she'd come to him.

"There you are!"

Arya turned around and saw her dad and Rickon walking towards them. Rickon was just finishing the last piece of his hotdog.

"Nice moves out there" he told her and licked his lips to make sure not a single drop of ketchup escaped his constantly hungry stomach.

"Thanks."

"Manners, Rickon" her dad scolded at his son who merely shrugged. Then he turned towards Arya. "I'm very proud of you!" He gave her a kiss on her forehead. "You did excellent work. Syrio Forel's lessons seem to be paying off. Which they should considering how expensive they are" her dad silently added as an afterthought. Arya and Jon exchanged a look.

"Are we ready to go?" Jon asked.

"I believe so, unless anyone wants or needs anything before we get in the car? Water, visit the toilet?" Since no one said anything, they ushered into the car after Arya had grabbed her things and said her goodbye's to Brienne, Syrio and Damien.

She pretended to sleep most of the way so that she wouldn't have to speak to anyone. She really needed to get away from here, away from all of Westeros. Syrio often spoke of his home during their lessons. The independent city of Braavos and Arya had been fascinated with it every time. Maybe she could go there for a while? School ended in a couple of weeks and she was over eighteen so no one could really stop her from going away for a week or two.

Her dad and brothers were spending the night at an inn to avoid having to drive during the night. Otherwise they couldn't have driven her without delaying their own trip by a good couple of hours. It was also for Rickon's sake since he really wanted to see King's Landing.

They said their goodnights and Arya took a quick shower before stepping outside for a short walk. There was one special hill that she always enjoyed walking to when she was upset. The soft salt breeze blowing in from the beach not too far away had a calming effect on her.

"Arya?" The deep voice startled her slightly and she turned around to see Gendry slowly walking towards her. "Brienne said you were probably up here."

"She was right." Arya tried to be distant, and failed. He always managed to make her forget that she was angry with him.

"I want to talk, is that alright?" He reached her on top of the hill. His startling blue eyes radiated something she had only seen once before, right after their first time together. She wondered if it was love. Arya nodded in response of his question. "I broke up with Bella."

Suddenly it felt like a huge weight lifted of her shoulders. Without thinking twice, she threw her arms around his neck. She rested her face in the crook of his neck and breathed in his scent. His arms came around her and held her close. Was it possible to actually be with him now?

"Say something" he whispered into her hair.

Arya put some space between them but still held her arms around him. "I was thinking about going to Braavos on vacation over the summer. Maybe you can come with me..?"

Gendry smiled and leaned in to press his lips against her. It felt like all her sadness was melting away. This kiss was real, it marked the start of a new beginning with him. "I'd love that."

 **I know many of you are probably disappointed with how this story is ending but it was the only ending that seemed plausible after everything. I wanted to write a destructive relationship just as an experiment and for that I've gotten a lot of grief from many people, and I'm sorry you feel that way. But you also have to understand that I'm trying to expand my abilities as a writer and that for me comes with writing about a romance that isn't always easy and can seem pathetic in the eyes of some. I hope you understand…**

 **Thank you for reading this story, it means a lot.**


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